Remant's Knight of Tomorrow (Volume 1)
by Avatar Conner
Summary: Twenty years ago Batman disappeared. He became too old to bear the weight of the Cowl. Now it's time for someone new to take the mantle. (Set one year before Volume 1. Rated M due to subject matter.)
1. Chapter 1: Rebirth pt1

Rebirth Part 1

 **City of Vale. Twenty Years Ago.**

Three days ago, a Faunus family's residence had been broken into. The husband was beaten viciously by one of the attackers into a coma while his wife suffered from a concussion, three broken bones, and her tail being cut off. All of this, and their six-year-old son had been taken as she laid bleeding out beside her unconscious husband, the news spread across the city that night. He was busy breaking down the door to known associate of one of the kidnappers while the news broadcast the details, he left the man untouched, but scared enough that he wouldn't alert his friends of who was coming.

He knew police would only investigate the crime as far as taking statements, saying they would do all they can, and then dragging their feet through the rest of the investigation, human on Faunus crimes were not police priority. But he wasn't the police, he was not the law.

The associate pointed him to a warehouse near the docks, he was to procure a escape for them with a watercraft. Escape out into the ocean and heads towards somewhere like Patch until the heat dies down. But they didn't know their boat wasn't coming, so they were forced to wait, but that was a double-edged sword. While they were forced to wait, it could give them time to rethink their plan, do something rash, so he needed to act NOW.

The warehouse was wedged between the fence surrounding the docks and the water, the building on the strip of concrete that reached out towards the ocean. He approached the building from outside the fence, hidden in the shadows he saw the lights were on, their friend wasn't lying. Approaching the fence, he bent his knees and jumped into the air, the soles of his feet fired out a boost of fire to rocket hum up further into the air and towards the warehouse.

He fell towards the rooftop, he extended his arms out and from his back a pair of wings sprouted out from his back, slowing his fall to land safely on the roof silently. Standing up, the shattered moon in the sky illuminated him. He was a tall, imposing in statute even without his current uniform on. He wore a black suit that covered him head to toe, on his forearms two bladed scallops reached back up the arm, around his waist was a belt. It was silver in color with a circular buckle with a red center, on either side where small capsule looking devices, and circling around the belt from there were an assortment of pouches with black lining.

His face was covered by a black mask, his eyes were only visible as two white eyes, what was strange about the mask were the two pointed peaks reaching up from either side of his head, easily mistaken for ears. On his chest was a symbol, it was red in color and was shaped as a bat, with the wings pointed up towards his shoulders and the tail end pointing down towards the buckle of the belt.

Walking across the roof, he kneeled at a skylight and peered inside.

Down below there was five men, each of them human, two of them standing in front of a laptop with the news on, _'In the news of the financial world, The CEO of the Schnee Dust Company, Jacques Schnee was poised to acquiring the land rights in Vacuo by Wayne Incorporated. The SDC was apparently planning to open a new Dust Mine in the region, however Wayne stated with the allegations of unfair working conditions in mines run by the rival company that he feels that the people of Vacuo should chose what they use the land for. This was his statement before returning the deed to the local governor of the area.'_

Two more were sitting on the comers of a metal table, one of them cleaning a knife, probably what mutilated the mother, and the other holstering a pistol. The Final perp was sitting on a barrel beside a metal support beam where the child was tied up around with rope. His mouth was gagged as he sobbed to himself, he looked unharmed, his black panther tail laid limply on the ground, curled around him in fear.

He gritted his teeth, he knew he should do this smart, surgical precision, but the sight of the child fueled the desire to simply beat these men to a bloody pulp.

Opening the skylight, he dropped down into the warehouse, raising his fist he aimed it at the man by the boy, on the top of his hand a slit rose up and fired out a red disk with sharpened ends. The disk cut through the ropes holding the boy in place, the man guarding him saw the ropes get cut, looking to where it came from he turned to have a heavy boot crack him across the face, landing in a crouch in front of the boy the man in black looked at him, "Run." He stated before turning back to the other four as one of them reached for the gun on the table.

Something small and black with red edges to it slid from his wrist into his hand, holding it between his thumb and index finger, the sides extended and curved out, it was shaped like a bat, the wings red and curved. He threw it at the man as he aimed the gun, it whirled through the air and hit the side of the gun, knocking it out of his hand and clattering it across the floor.

The two by the TV got to him first, one threw a haymaker at the man in black. He countered by parrying the punch with his right forearm and quickly striking at his opponent's face by pivoting his arm and landing a blow across his face while he landed another blow into his midsection and finishing with upper cutting the kidnapper. His ally ducked as his friend flew overhead, the man in black front kicked him in the chest, cracking his ribs as well as kicking the air out of his lungs.

The final two looked at one another with fear, three of their friends were down and he wasn't even hurt….he was breathing a little hard however.

He noticed it too, he needed to take these last two down quickly, the kid was safe so he could take them down, call the cops, and leave. Case closed. The pair rused at him at the same time, he gritted his teeth. That's what he gets for being positive.

As they got close, he jumped towards them, kneeing one in the chin, landing on the ground he swept his leg out into the other's and brought them down onto the ground too. Rolling back between them, he grabbed them both by their heads with each a hand, they reached at his hands and tried to break free but he slammed them into the ground, once, twice, three times for good measure until they stopped struggling.

Standing up over the fallen kidnappers, he breathed heavily as his chest flared up with soreness. He needed to give himself a minute.

That minute was shirt lived when he cracked across the back of his head with a crowbar, he fell to the ground, as he started to pick himself back up a kick to his ribs knocked him over onto his back. His attacker was the one guarding the kid, _Stupid._ He thought before the man slammed the crowbar into chest, the suit wasn't just fabric, most of the defense was around the chest so it didn't do any major damage, but it still hurt like hell.

"I thought the Batman was supposed to be kind of big badass." He brought the crowbar down across his face, blood splattered across the ground. "Guess the stories were bullshit!" he shouted as he raised the crowbar like a golf club and hit the side of the Batman's head, making him roll across the ground.

He could barely breathe, his chest was killing him, he could barely move. He needed something. He needed something to turn this all around, he didn't have the strength to use any of his gadgets, but if he had something like a lead pipe or something to knock his attacker down with, turn the tides, he could take this.

He felt something brush against his hand, he grabbed it out of reflex and swung it back at the man as he turned over. The kidnapper froze in fear for but a moment before dropping the crowbar and turning around to run away. There were police sirens in the distance, they would be here before the last one got too far away.

The object in his hand began to weigh down, he finally looked at it….it was the gun the man pointed at him before. Batman's hand started to shake, his gaze locked on the weapon in his hand….the gun he was holding. It clattered on the floor as he stood up, his hands reached up to his face and pulled the mask off, he needed to breathe, he needed to think he was revolted, he was horrified. Not with the gun….with himself.

As the mask slipped off his head, he gasped loudly as the air hit his slightly wrinkled face. His hair was greying on the sideburns, his jet black hair was messy and his face was covered in sweat and blood on the corner of his mouth and chin. He sat there for a few seconds before picking himself back up.

 _No….no._ he thought as he walked towards the open door to the warehouse.

* * *

It took him a few hours to prepare everything. The man shut down the database he accumulated over the years, he disconnected the bugs he planted. He shelved all the gadgets he was carrying in the armory. And finally the suit.

It wasn't his first uniform but it was his last, over the years he wore dozens of variations of his first one. To this end he stored them in what his first ward referred to as the Closet of Costumes. The hall stretched three yards back, the lights in the ceiling illuminating the room and the various costumes that lined the walls to the end where he stood, putting the last costume in it's proper place.

He adjusted it so that the head mask was facing the correct way before turning around and walking down the hall. He passed the suit he wore when Mount Glenn fell and had to fight through hordes of Grim, the suit he made for his replacement when his back was broken, when his greatest failure was fulfilled, when his mission became global, when he donned the cowl for the first year.

And just his, but the one for the boy who started a partnership, for the girl who was put through a sick joke, and another boy who found out the man's secret on his own.

Walking to the doorway of the hall, he turned around and looked back at the uniforms, he made them for his war, his personal war that ended with far too many casualties for him. But even after the dead and wounded were tended to he soldiered on, until tonight when he broke his rule, his code, his vow. He reached for the switch that controlled the lights.

"Never again." He said to himself solemly before hitting the switch, the lights shutting off down the hall to the back where the last costume was displayed.

* * *

 **City of Vale. Present Day.**

Vale had changed greatly in the past two decades, the largest difference was in terms of Culture, Faunus were for the most part viewed as Equals now among humans. Not to say that there was no longer any animosity between humans and Faunus. For one the White Fang, a once peaceful organization had turned to more aggressive ways to get their message across, and the Schnee Dust Company had been pushing the envelope on what was considered to be hard labor, targeted at Faunus.

It was not perfect, but it was a vast improvement over what they were like two decades ago. However not all changes were for the better, such as the steady rise in crime since the last known sighting of the famous, or infamous, vigilante known as the Batman.

And with gangs like the Mutants running around Vale, it wouldn't exactly be unwelcome for someone to knock some sense into them.

Not that they actually are mutants, they were basically punks with red visors over their eyes who vandalized, beat, and occasionally murdered people who pissed them off, they also adopted a strange speech pattern, not so bad that one couldn't understand them, but they sounded unsettling. In fact, on a bus driving through the streets of Vale, a pair of Mutants stood in front of a young, pretty woman. "Pretty lady sits alone now." One of them said.

"Pretty lady like company yeah?" the other asked, they both had shaved heads and red visors staring at the young lady as she hugged her purse close to her chest and avoided their eyes, clearly scared by the duo. "Pretty lady carrying' lien?" one of them asked, she didn't answer one reached out and grabbed her chin, making her look at them. "You dunce? The ask if you carrying!" one barked at her.

"Hey." One of them looked back to see a fist ram into their visor, breaking it before they hit the floor, the other was cracked across the jaw and hit the back of his head against a metal pole before sliding his back down against it to the ground. "If you're going to threaten someone? Either do it against someone your own size, or at least learn to say it right like this." The voice began as the Mutant looked up.

Standing over him was a teen, around 5'8 with a slightly athletic build. He wore a brown pullover with a white shirt underneath it with dark blue pants and black sneakers. On the shoulder sleeves of his pullover was a patch of wings, each of them pointed back as though they were in mid flap. He had a fair skin tone contrasted by his black hair that was slightly combed to the left, "Get off the damn bus before I throw you off." He threatened.

The two started to get up but the bus slowed, the momentum shift made them tumble across the floor. The two started to get up but the young man grabbed them by the backs of their shirts and swung them to the side to the doors as they opened. The two fell out onto the sidewalk. As the two got up, they saw their attacker grinning at them, "Total honesty I wasn't serious about throwing you guys out of the bus but when the doors opened? I had to." He said as the doors shut and the bus drove off.

"Thanks Rowan." The driver of the bus said to the young man who simply smiled at him, "Those assholes have been hassling this ride for the past week." He explained as Rowan reached his seat and picked up his single strap backpack. The young woman who was being harassed sat across from him gave him a grateful smile, the young man nodded back before walking up to the front of the bus as it pulled up at his stop.

"Well you know sometimes you just got to hit people." Rowan replied with a shrug as he walked to the door, giving the elderly bus driver money for the ride, "See you next time Sal." He said before hopping off at his stop and walking down the street as the bus drove off to it's next stop. The bus had dropped him off in the residential district of the city where his father lived so he could be closer to work in the industrial district of Vale.

His mother lived in Atlas with his younger brother Patrick, his parents had divorced two years ago and he stayed at the old apartment with his dad while Patrick and his mother moved to Atlas. The reason behind the devoice was that between his father working more than being home, his mother….found comfort in another. Her and his little brother lived with him in Atlas.

Rowan turned the street corner and continued down the sidewalk until he came upon the building he and his father lived in. Entering their apartment building, Rowan entered the elevator and hit the fifth floor button, riding up to the second to top floor he walked out and turned left to his and his father's apartment. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his keys and unlocked the door. He kicked his shoes off near the door as he entered, walking into the living room he slung his schoolbag off his shoulders and hopped over the couch in front of the TV projector.

Picking up the remote on the cushon next to him he turned on the set and flipped through the stations, searching for something to watch. He stopped clicking the remote when he felt his scroll vibrate in his pocket. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the device and extended it, Rowan smiled when he saw the text was from his friend Yang Xaio Long.

 **.:Hey, me and Rubes r catching movie 2nite. Join?:. – Yang.**

 **Rowan -.: Wot movie?:.**

 **.: New Planet of Plants movie:. – Yang**

 **Rowan - .:Sure:.**

 **.: Sweet! You won't Be-leaf your eyes!:. – Yang.**

 **Rowan - .: Godamnit Yang!:.**

 **.: Please you know you love it. Movie is at 8:30:. – Yang**

The young man rolled his eyes at his friend's stupid joke before putting his scroll in his pocket, he had met Yang and her younger sister Ruby when he lived on Patch. Back when his family was whole and all together, however when his parents split he had to move with his father to his new home. But even with his family splitting apart, Yang and Ruby had been there to help him through it.

They stayed in touch, they went to Signal Academy in Vale and took the tram from Patch to the city to and from. But even then they didn't see each other much since Rowan went to another school altogether, though he'd be lying if he said he didn't like the idea of going to school to learn how to kill grim. In fact, when his parents spilt, he had half a mind to go to Signal along with Yang but he had to get parental permission. And his father was entirely against the idea of his son being a Huntsman.

It caused a rift between the two, it's still somewhat fresh too. But at least now Rowan understands why his father was adamantly against it.

The sound of the door opening made him look back over the couch, his father entered with a charcoal colored suit, his hair was starting to recede back but the widow's peak suited him along with the goatee and glasses he wore. The briefcase in his hand had the company name on the side, Waynetech. Harold Bryce had started working for the company years ago and was still working there now as a accountant.

"Hey dad." Rowan greeted from the couch before turning back to the TV and flicking through channels, missing the tired and concerned look on his father's face. "Yang just texted me about going to a movie, I'm going to meet her and Ruby go out later to meet them." He explained as he shut off the TV after seeing that there was little to nothing on.

Harold ran a hand down his face, "Rowan why didn't you ask if it's ok to go first?" he asked, his toe showing he was displeased his son decided on this without his word on the matter. Rowan sighed, "….what time will you be home if you go?" he asked, willing to hear his son out.

"Eight thirty." Rowan answered simply, he didn't have a curfew, he was sixteen he could drive, his father didn't mind him staying up or out late as long as he came home.

Harold shook his head, "I'm sorry Rowan-"

"What?! Come on! I've stayed out later than that!" Rowan argued as he stood up from the couch, "I barely see them enough as is!" he protested, last time he saw Yang was last month, and his last communication with Ruby was an email last week. He had other friends of course but Ruby and Yang stayed with him through a challenging time in his life, to him they were almost family, it was unfair that he couldn't see them.

Harold sighed as he walked over to his son, "Rowan…please, just tonight? Stay in." he pleaded with his son, Rowan crossed his arms over his chest. Harold gave him a guilty look, "Rowan….I know this isn't fair. But….trust me…..I'm asking you to do this for a reason." He said as he reached out to put his hadn't on his son's shoulder as a sign of comfort.

The young man brushed him off, "Whatever. Not like it matters or anything." He said bitterly as he grabbed his bag and headed for his room located beside the entrance to the apartment, slamming the door shut, Harold raised his glasses and rubbed his eyes with his fingers. Glancing down at his briefcase he took a deep breath and steeled himself.

Meanwhile in Rowan's room, the young adult laid on his bed across the mattress with his legs hanging off the side and his scroll in his hand, as he raised it up to text Yang an explanation he stopped himself. Looking at the door to his room, he sat up and crept over to the door as quietly as he could. Turning the doorknob, he slowly opened the door and peered out, his father satin the living room on the sofa, his briefcase open and a few papers out on the cushions.

Looking back to the door, he saw his shoes tossed aside, reaching over he picked them up and closed the the door. Slipping them on inside his room, he made his way to his window. Sliding it open, he looked down to the balcony below, the apartment below them had been vacant for the past three months so no one was home. Climbing out the window, he dropped roughly a yard onto the balcony and entered the apartment.

Walking through the vacant home, he made his way to the front door and opened it, smirking to himself. He'll sneak out, catch the movie, get back home when his father was asleep. "It'll be like nothing happened." He said to himself as he ran down the steps, the movie theatre they always went to was a few blocks away, he'd cut through a few alleys and be there in no time.

* * *

The cabbie dropped Rowan off outside the movie theatre, the young man walked over to a bench planted between movie posters. The young man stretched his arms up and his legs out, he was a few minutes early so he already bought the tickets for the three of them. He would have to explain to Yang that he had to sneak out in order to meet up, but he knew she and Ruby would keep quiet. Ruby actually had a streak of bending the rules out of the three of them, Yang had stated several times that she was strangely proud about that with her sister.

Rowan thought to when he first met Yang, he was in elementary school on the playground getting picked on by a bunch of kids older than him, he and Yang were in the same class but he didn't talk with anyone really. However she came over and, for lack of a better term, decked the biggest one right in the face. When another tried to pull on her pigtails, Rowan jumped on his back and their first of many brawls together began.

Rowan didn't exactly have a fighting style refined as Yang's, he just knew how to fight relatively well for someone who grew up on a peaceful island such as patch. Yang and Ruby however, they both were well on their way to becoming capable huntresses, he had seen their weapons and knew for a fact that he was outclassed when if he ever tried to spar with them.

The sound of a bike engine drew him from his thoughts as the sisters arrived on a bright yellow motorcycle. Yang Xiao Long had long, flowing blonde hair that went down to her waist, the top of her head had a single lock of hair stand up. She had a tan short sleeve jacket on that exposed her midriff with a matching half skirt covering her lower half with black boy shorts. Her hands were covered by black fingerless gloves with yellow bracelets on her wrists and her legs had a pair of brown knee-high boots on with her socks slightly exposed and a lavender colored bandana on her right knee.

Her younger sister Ruby Rose had a gothic style blouse on that reached up to her neck and down to a combat skirt, black in color it reached out her wrists with red trim that matched the rim and underside of her skirt. On her chest was a matching black corset that had red strings intertwining at her midsection and a dark grey belt around her waist with her symbol on the side and a cross on the other. Her legs were covered by thick black stockings and black boots with red trim and lace. What topped her outfit off was the red cape she had on with matching hood, clamped onto her blouse. She had short black hair with red tips to them.

As Rowan got up to greet them, Ruby rocketed into him with enough force to nearly knock them both over, "Ohmygoshit'sbeensolongit'sgreattoseeyou!" Ruby aid with excitement as Rowan smiled, happy to see his friend as well. Ruby's semblance was speed, he'd seen her run a mile within five minutes in the form of a red blur. Upon pulling Ruby off him, Yang and he shared a smile, she raised her fist and he bumped it with his.

"Good to see you, you got the tickets?" she asked, Rowan dug into his pocket and pulled out the stubs, Yang grinned. "Awesome! Now for the best part of the movies, the Arcade!" she said excitedly as she cracked her knuckles as Ruby grinned. As Ruby rushed off to get tokens so she could start getting some high scores, Yang and Rowan walked together into the building behind Ruby. "So how's your dad doing?" she asked, getting a scoff from her friend as an answer, "Well that's not a good sign." She said as Rowan ran his hands up his face.

"I had to sneak out to come here! It's just the movies, and he acts like I'm going to go outside the kingdom!" he complained as they pushed through the doors, turning towards the crowded arcade Rowan stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I mean your dad doesn't give you a fuc-" Yang elbowed him, "FRICKING curfew." He corrected as they entered the arcade, the games lighting up the room from end to end, Ruby was right beside the door working on a claw machine, to no avail.

Yang disliked anyone swearing around Ruby, the Blonde had raised her sister along with their dad and made sure not to swear around her growing up. It became a sort of tic with her, every time someone tried to swear around Ruby Yang would stop them beforehand. "Well me and my sister are also huntresses in training." She pointed out with a shrug of her arms, showing her yellow bracelets off.

"Yeah and I would be too if my dad let me." Rowan stated as they walked over to Ruby, watching as the girl tried to use the claw to pick up a plushie of a Beowolf Grim. Ruby dug into her pocket and pulled out a few tokens for both Yang and Rowan, the pair looked around for something to bide their time while they waited to watch the movie. "I fought two Mutants today on the bus ride home! I can handle myself." He pointed out as they walked up to a punching bag game, the goal was to hit it as hard as you can and get scored on it.

Rowan went first, inserting two tokens the scoreboard on the arc that supported the bag, drawing his fist back he struck the bag in it's center mass as hard as he could. His frustration might have given his attack more power to it than he planned, the machine made a few chimes before giving him a score of fifty-five. Yang smirked, "Not bad." She said as she stepped up to the bag, giving her knuckles a kiss before drawing back and punching the bag hard enough to make the bottom of it hit the machine itself.

She scored eighty points for that one, causing the blonde to grin widely. "Yes!" She cheered silently. Rowan crossed his arms over his chest, Yang noticed and elbowed him playfully, "Hey lighten up. Look, your dad just wants to do what he thinks is best for you." She explained.

Rowan didn't look entirely convinced, before he could respond, two patrons entered the arcade, it was the same two mutants who he had encountered on the bus. "Oh crap." He muttered, Yang looked at the direction he was and glared as the pair closed in on Ruby.

The hooded girl was meanwhile distracted with the crane game and had not noticed the two visor wearers approach her. "Little red, Little red, you got treats?" one of them asked, Ruby however was far too focused on the flaw, she had angled it just right over the plushie she wanted. The pair looked at one another dissatisfied, "Ask you again or you get sliced. Little red, you got treats?" one of them threatened, making Ruby look back at them.

"Huh? Oh no. I don't have any snacks yet. Our movie doesn't start until-" she stopped when she saw who she was talking to. "-you two aren't taking about actual treats are you?" she asked in realization.

As Yang and Rowan got close he realized something, if they started a fight then there was a chance that someone would get hurt, the place was full of people. "Yang, you got your keys to your bike?" he asked, the blonde nodded, pulling her keychain out of her pocket slightly. Before she could protest, Rowan yanked the keys from her pocket and ran towards the door. "Hey! Tweedle Dum and Dee is that you?" he asked the mutants, making them turn over at his direction.

The two were sneering as they chased after him, Ruby completely forgotten as Yang called out to him, he blocked her concerned yell out and burst through the doors past the ticket booth. However upon exiting the theatre, he found that he had jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Awaiting outside was roughly half a dozen other Mutant gang members, "There's the buzz! Slice and Dice!" the pair he was running from the theatre after him. Rowan turned and swung his foot up, round-housing the mutant in the face, only to be tackled by the other. The other Mutant punches him in the face, Rowan could hear the others closing in as he was struck again and again in the face. As the Mutant raised his hand to punch him again, Rowan striked at his throat.

As the man choked, Rowan threw him off and ran towards bumblebee, Yang's motorcycle. Sliding over the seat he put the key in the ignition and turned it. Pulling on the throttle as the other Mutants closed in wielding various improvised weapons such as pipes and bricks. The Rear wheel squealed as it turned against the ground causing the Mutants to back off before Rowan drove off on the bike.

 _Ok this is not how I thought tonight would go!_ He thought as he took one hand off the handlebars and grabbed Yang's helmet and slipped it on over his head if he crashed. Looking back he saw that a van was fallowing him, he could see the red visors inside staring him down. _Alright Yang, let's put bumblebee through her paces._ He thought as he turned down a narrow alleyway that the Van couldn't fit through.

Knocking down a few cans he emerged from the alley out onto the road, narrowly avoiding a large truck. Turning down the right lane, he was passing beside a park when the van carrying the Mutants came out from around the corner of a building. They forced Rowan to cut through the park with the Van gaining on him. The dirt was slowing the bike, but the Van was keeping it's speed. The side of the car slid open, a mutant wearing overalls leaned out with a lead pipe in his hand, the Van pulled up alongside him.

Rowan swung his arm back, backhanding the Mutant in the face before he could swipe at him with the pipe. Looking ahead he ducked in time to avoid a tree branch hanging low the Mutant in overalls wasn't as lucky as he tumbled out of the Van while his friends drove off without him. Rowan suddenly breaks, the Van shooting past him as the young man pivoted on the bike and drove towards the tone path and fallowing it until he reached the exit to the park.

Diving down the road, he looked back as he neared the onramp to the highway, turning his head back ahead however he saw the van driving right at him! Quickly turning into the ramp he drive up towards the highway.

The highway system in Vale consisted of roads that towered above the ground, they had guard fences that curved upwards so that no one could climb over them and do something stupid. As Rowan continued down the road, he passed a sign reading 'Commercial District limits'.

* * *

He'd been driving for about fifteen minutes, the Sun was down and dusk had turned to night as he dove off the highway and out to the limits of Vale. The van was still fallowing him but after cutting through traffic he managed to put some distance between them, as he drove down a empty road, he noticed he was in the nearing the limits of the Kingdom by the amount of woods surrounding the road. He either needed to loose these guys or fight.

Further up the road he saw a sign. He flew by too fast to read it but it directed to a side road. Turning off his headlights he turned down the road off to the side and up the winding roads until he was overlooking the turnoff where he entered the road from. The van approached the side road and turned off the way he came, "Shit." He cursed before turning the light on again and continuing down the road.

 _Maybe I can ditch them in the woods. Park the bike and stay low or-_ he thought to himself before the headlight shined over a man in the middle of the road. Rowan quickly turned off, the sudden turn causing the bike to slide out as it's rider tumbled across the ground as it did the same. Rowan hissed in pain as he turned over onto his hands, pushing himself up as the Van slowed to a park, the headlights shining on him before the occupants exited the van.

"Skid out, get to slice and dice! Slice and Dice!" one of them ordered as Rowan got up onto his feet and readied himself for a fight. His count put him at one to seven, he didn't feel that any of his bones were broken but Rowan was no doubt hurt from the crash. But he readied himself for a fight nonetheless, even as they chanted Slice and Dice.

"Leave him alone." A stern voice, said, Rowan and the Mutants looked over to see a man walk out from the shadows of the trees. He had grey, almost white hair on his head that was neatly combed back, giving him a distinguished look. He had a black suit on with matching pants and shoes over a grey sweater, he used a metal cane to walk out from the shadows. "And get the hell off my property." He added as he strode over towards Rowan's side.

"Better scat old time, slice you too." One of them threatened.

The older man raised a brow, Rowan explained, "He means leave before they hurt you too. And you should….this is my problem, you don't need to-" he started, not wanting to drag this old man into a fight. However he was cut off when the man used his cane to puck a rock right into the face of one of the Mutants, the man grabbed his now bloody nose and left himself open for him to be grabbed by Rowan and kneed in the gut and punched down to the ground.

The remaining six rushed the two, Rowan had a man with a chain run at him. He ducked under the metal chain. He backed off as the Mutant advanced, whipping the chain out again Rowan raised his arm and let the chain wrap around his arm and yanked the mutant towards him and landed a hard right cross with the arm with the chain around it just before he was grabbed from behind in a arm lock.

Meanwhile the old man was dealing with the three remaining ones, they surrounded him from his front and sides. The one in front pulled a switchblade from his trousers and lunged at the old man, he raised his cane and batted the hand holding the balde away and slammed the head of the cane into his face, making him stumble as the man was rushed from both sides.

He held his cane horizontal, and slammed the ends into either Mutant's stomach before cracking them upside the head with each end. As the one in front of him with the blade, now recovered, charged again the old man sidestepped out of the way, reaching the head of his crane out in the direction the blade wielder was heading and tugged, making him trip over himself before smacking the back of the fallen Mutant's head with the butt of his cane.

Rowan was busy with the mutant holding his arms back as the third one approached with a set of brass knuckles and struck him acros the face a few times, Rowan spat out a bit of blood. He looked up at his attacker and smirked, "You hit like a girl." He taunted, making the Mutant reel his arm back, Rowan suddenly jumped back and kicked his feet into his attacker's chest. Throwing his weight forward, he tossed his captor over his back onto his Mutant friend, he fallowed up by jumping on the of both of them and kicking them both in the head for good measure.

Stepping off them, the Mutants dragged themselves back to their Van as their comrades dis the same, the Van backed up down the road as one of the ones that Rowan had encountered on the bus shouted out, "WE Slice you! We'll Slice you good!"

Rowan turned over to the elderly man's he started towards a gate he hadn't noticed before, "Thanks…I'm sorry I got you involved I didn't-" he started before the man dropped his cane and dropped onto his knee with a grunt of pain. Rowan's eyes widened before rushing over, "Hey! Are you ok?! Should I call an ambulance?" he asked as he kneeled at the man's side.

He shook his head, "No I…need medicine…at the house." He panted out as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his scroll, pressing a few icons the gate opened for them. Grabbing his cane, the old Man was lifted up by Rowan and helped him walk down the path, looking up, he could make out the silhouette of a large mansion in the short distance. As they walked down the drive, a shadow moved through the darkness towards them.

Before Rowan knew it a large dog was growling at him menacingly, "Um….hiya boy?" he asked, the dog didn't stop growling at him, it was Great Dane that was black in color with a brown collar around his neck. Yang and Ruby had a dog, a little corgi named Zwei, but this thing made him look like a mouse.

"Down boy…he's ok." The older man said, making the hound stop bearing it's teeth at Rowan and walk over to his master, licking his hand with concern. Walking the rest of the way up to the manor, Rowan opened the door to the mansion with the dog leading the way inside past the grand staircase and into a study, directing the young man to a chair for him to set the man in. "Medicine…upstairs. First bathroom behind mirror…Apixaban."

Rowan nodded in understanding, running out to the staircase he found the bathroom he was talking about along with the medicine. Returning to the study he also had a glass of water to help drink with. "Here you go, is there anything else I can do?" he asked as the old man took the pill and then drank the water.

He leaned back in his seat and shook his head, "No…no I'll be fine…just….." he started before drifting off, for but a moment Rowan feared that he did something wrong, however his fears were put to rest when the man started snoring.

Rowan breathed a breath of relief, looking over he saw that the dog seemed to have calmed down now. Rowan smiled at him, "Hey buddy….sorry your boss got hurt." He said, calmly reaching his hand put he rubbed the dog between the ears. The hound let out a gruff of satisfaction as his tail thumped against the ground, Rowan stood and reached for his Scroll, "Better let Yang and Ruby know I'm ok…man she'll kill me if I dented bumblebee." He groaned out when he realized the bike's condition.

However upon opening his scroll he saw that there wasn't a signal that he could call from, "Great." Rowan breathed out, they were near the city limits so it shouldn't have come as a surprise that the signal was finicky. Looking around the room, he saw a phone on a table beside a old grandfather clock, walking over to the table he picked up the phone and began to dial. However a strange scratching sound made him stop and search for the source of the noise, only to find it was coming from the clock.

Looking it over, he jumped when he saw a bat trying to claw it's way out from behind the face of the clock, "How the hell did you get stuck there?" he asked himself aloud, reaching for the handle, he pulled the glass door opened and reached for the glass around the clock, the bat was getting antsy, "Hold your grim, I'll get you out. Just don't bite me ok?" he asked as he held the side of the glass and tried to pull.

Adding some more weight to his pull, he nearly fell when the entire Clock swung forward like a door, revealing a doorway leading into darkness. Rowan stared down the dark passage as the bat flew into the shadows, the young man looked at the doorway then back to the elderly man who he fought beside. He was torn between privacy and curiosity, but curiosity won out and he ventured into the doorway.

The hall continued a few feet before descending into a long staircase, the walls went from bricks to cave like walls. Upon reaching an opening, all that he could see was the bottom of the steps and darkness spread throughout the rest of the space. His footsteps echoed as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Ok so how do I turn the lights on?" he muttered aloud.

 _'_ _Lights On.'_ An automated voice said, the young man jumped at the voice before lights lit up the room.

Well room wasn't the correct word. Cave was.

Rowan stood inside a huge cave, however a few feet away was a large computer with multiple screens beside a ledge with a guard rail. Walking over he looked over to see another staircase further away lead down to a lower level of the cave where a circle was located and a road that lead out of the cave, Rowan backed up away from the railing, his mind racing.

"No way….I mean no way. This couldn't be…..it could just be a mancave…..a very literal mancave." He said as he kept back stepping until his back pressed against a door that slid open, whirling around he turned in time to see a hallway light up, however on the walls there were glass cases lined with costumes. Most of them having a cowl with pointy ears and a bat shaped emblem on the chest. At the end of the hall there was a all black suit without a cape, with white eyes and a red bat shape on the chest and belt around the waist with long pointy ears.

Rowan's jaw dropped. "No. Fricking. Way." He said to himself in realization.

Right before something hit him in the back of the head very hard. Falling to the ground, he clutched the back of his head as he let out a pained moan, turning over he saw that the old man was awake. And the creased brow and frown told him he was not happy, "Get. OUT!" he commanded, pointing the end of his cane at him.

"B-bu-But you're-" he babbled out, the man glared at him even more. However Rowan realized that the man just nearly had what he assumed was a heart attack. He really shouldn't be arguing with him, "Ok…..I'll go….and I won't say anything." He said as he got up and walked towards the exit, the canine fallowing him as though to make sure he would leave.

Minutes later he exited through the front gates of the manor, the automated gats shutting behind him as the dog sat obediently on the other side of the gate. Looking up to the large home, he saw one of the dozen windows of the estate lit up before being turned off. Rowan made his way to Yang's bike, thankfully it wasn't damaged. Starting it back up he pulled on the handle and drove back the way he came.

Not knowing that the old man watched him as he left.

* * *

It took an hour to get back to the movie theatre, by that time though Ruby and Yang were waiting outside the theatre. Slowing the bike to a stop, the two sisters approached him differently. Yang slugged him in the arm hard, while Ruby was grinning wildly, 'That was awesome/Stupid!" they said at the same time.

Rowan held up the keys to Yang's bike as a gesture of goodwill but the blonde yanked the keys from his grasp, "I swear if you had gotten hurt I would have kicked your butt all the way to Patch." She threatened light heartedly before grinning, "But I guess you were right, you can handle yourself."

 _Yeah with the help of a geriatric Batman._ Rowan thought as he shrugged, "The bike is nice….though I might owe you some gas money." He said, realizing he must have burned through at least half her tank.

Before the three could continue however, the sound of a approaching police siren mad the three turn their heads to see a cop car pull up, "Oh god did my dad call the cops on me?!" Rowan asked frantically.

"What? Come on he wouldn't do that…..would he?" Ruby asked, Rowan and Yang nodded, "Oh…well it's nice knowing you Rowan." She said, patting the young man on the back as the police exited the car and made their way towards the trio. Rowan didn't realize the sisters both took a few cautionary steps back.

The two officers in uniform approached the young man, "Rowan Bryce?" one of them asked, he had a bald head with a thick beard, the young man nodded. "I'm afraid we have some bad news son." He said, making a shiver go through the young man's being, "Ealrier this evening…..there was a break in at your home."

It was like a sucker punch when it hit him, Ruby and Yang were in a similar state but only he managed to find the words, "M-My dad….what about my dad?" he asked shakily. The officers were silent, "My dad…he's ok right? He's got to be ok, he's ok right?!" more silence. Before anyone could stop him he startd running, he heard Ruby call out to him but like last time he simply bocked it out and ran on adrenaline.

He cut through the alley acorss the street and turned down the sidewalk towards his apartment building. The next moment he was at his apartment, there were police cars outside. "No…..dad?!" he called out as he ran to the building and charged up the stairs, "Dad!?" he called out as he ran up the stairs, when he reached his floor he stopped at the words on the wall painted in blood.

Slice and Dice.

"DAD!"

* * *

Rowan awoke with beads of sweat covering his body and sheets.

Taking a few seconds to calm himself down, he looked around his surroundings and saw he was in the guest room of the Rose/Xiao Long household.

Laying back down onto the guest bed, he ran his hands down his face. His dreams had been of that night for five days now. Taiyang had offered his guest room to the young man fallowing his father's murder, Rowan hadn't even left the room since, Ruby and Yang left him food outside his door to eat and he did so, but he simply was numb to the world right now.

He was admix of emotions, sadness, confusion, but above all he was angry. He was angry at the police for not finding anything as of yet on the people who were responsible for his father's murder. He was angry at the Mutants who had to have done this, he wanted nothing more than to find them and took what them what they took from his dad. His was angry at his mother for not returning his calls.

But most of all he was angry at himself, he was angry for the words he spoke with his father, for not being there when his father needed him. For making his father worry before his death.

Throwing the sheets off himself he made his way to the door in his pajamas bottoms and tee shirt. Opening the door, he looked to make sure he'd not awoken the other residents, walking down the hall he made his way to the stairs and walked down them to the living room. Taking a seat on the couch, he folded his hands together and bent over until his forehead rested against his hands.

"Can't sleep?" Rowan looked back over the couch to see Ruby in her black Pj's with red dots on the stairs with Zwei in her arms. Rowan shook his head, Ruby walked down the stairs and walked over beside him, taking a seat next to him she let go of her dog. Zwei walked across the couch to him and nestled into his side affectionately. "…..how are you doing?" she asked.

Rowan sighed, "I don't know…..I'm sad…..I'm hurt….I'm angry….I just….I just don't know Ruby." He said exhaustedly, rubbing his eyes with his fingers.

The red headed girl pulled her feet up onto the couch and hugged them close to her chest, "My mom died when I was little…I don't remember it much, but I remember how nice she was, how pretty, how cool she was." She said with a smile. "And when she died…..I was sad but…I didn't understand it at that point…..but what I knew was that she was in a better place. Watching over me and my family." She said sadly, thinking of Summer Rose's grave that she visited every now and again.

Rowan however was clenching his hands into fists, "Ruby I could have been there. I should have been there! If I was then maybe I could have helped fight them off and…." He choked as tears began to leak from his eyes, "I was mad at him Ruby. I was mad at him, I yelled at him, and I didn't listen…and I'll never get to say how sorry I am." He explained as his head fell into his hands.

Ruby's arm was around him in an instant, letting him let out the emotions he had kept to himself for the past week come out.

* * *

Two days later, Rowan was out of the guest room and walking around the house talking to Taiyang and his daughters again.

The funeral for his father was already paid for, Rowan assumed Tai set it up. It was a week away, and Rowan needed to grab somethings from his old apartment. Taiyang walked in with Rowan, the man was physically fit, his job as a teacher at Signal academy having helped with keeping himself sharp. He had blonde hair like Yang though nowhere near as long, it was more scruffy and short on top of his head with inklings of a beard across his face and a soul patch.

He wore brown cargo shorts with a dark brown belt, black shoes and a red bandana around his left arm. He wore a brown leather vest over a tan dress shirt with the right sleeve cut off, on the right shoulder was a metal spaulder with vambrace around his arm and glove on his right hand. On his right bicep was a tattoo of his symbol, "Thanks for doing this Tai.' He thanked the huntsman.

The man shrugged as he picked up a box from the young man's room and carried it with him down the stairs, "Eh it's no problem. Besides I figure you wouldn't want Yang learning you have heart patterned underwear."

"Say a word and I shave the soul patch old man." Rowan retorted with a smile.

Tai smirked back, "….it's good to see you smile again kid." He said as they continued down the stairs, "I know that…..loss can be hard…..and it's hard to get past. But trust me when I say that time heals all wounds." He said empathetically, making Rowan nod at his words, "You can stay with us for as long as you want. Ruby and Yang love having you around…..that being said, if I find anything hookie-" Tai started in a slightly serious tone.

"I understand…..but right now I don't think I'm up for anything Hookie related." Rowan said to his defense. He was well aware he was under the same roof as two girls around his age, Yang being fifteen and Ruby being fourteen while he was sixteen. But even so they were all friends, he couldn't screw that up by trying to be more.

Besides if he tried anything with Ruby, Yang would set him on fire. If he tried something with Yang and it went bad, same thing.

Walking out the front of the building, he and Tai set the boxes down in the car that Tai had drove to pick up the young man's belongings. Setting the boxes in the back, Rowan closed the door to the car and turned back to the building, "I'm going to back and do a onceover, see if I forgot anything." He explained, Tai nodded as the young man walked into the building and made his way up the stairs.

Entering his apartment, he looked to the living room. It was the crime scene however but now it was spotless. Rowan walked into the room where he last saw his father, looking on the couch he sat down where he last saw Harold. Rowan took a deep calming breath and let it out before pushing himself up off the couch.

His hand sunk into the crease between cushions, he felt something brush against his fingers. Reaching further down into the couch he pulled out what was in the cushions, in his hands was a folder. Setting it down in his lap he opened the folder to find paperwork with certain columns and numbers highlighted On the inside of the melena folder was a sticky note, "In the event of disappearance or death? Shit dad…." Rowan muttered as he turned the page and read down the columns.

Copious amounts of money where transferred from the savings and into the miscellaneous account, then to a number of other departments in smaller amounts before it was moved collectively to the R&D department. And this has been apparently being going on for three years. The next page was of employees and their paystubs, one of the names was highlighted Prat Keet, who received the money though the form of bonuses.

The next few pages were files on various projects that the R&D department was currently working on. _So dad was looking into something at work….someone was paying someone else to make things….but why was this such a big deal?_ Rowan wondered as he turned to a page with a few pictures paperclipped to the corner. The first one was of a small horse in sealed glass chamber, the next one was a green gas being released into the chamber. The next one was of the horse falling, after that the horse was covered in black spots, then it began to loose it's skin, it's muscle tissue, bones, "What the hell?" he asked.

 _If this is the kind of stuff this guy is making…dad must have found out. Well what the hell do I do now?! The police think the Mutant gang did this…and they could have….did they? Shit I don't know! What do I do? What-_ he thought frantically before someone came to mind. A few days ago he looked up the residence where he discovered Batman's cave, it belonged to Bruce Wayne, CEO of Wayne Enterprises. And the boss of his dad.

Closing the file he put it in his schoolbag and zipped it closed before slinging it over his back. Hurrying down the stairs, he ran out to the car where Taiyang was waiting, "Hey I just got a call from my dad's work, they want me to come by and clean out his desk." He lied, not wanting to tie the Rose/Xiao Long family in this mess.

Tai raised a brow, "Really? I mean…..are you up for that?" he asked.

Rowan nodded, "Yeah I got to do it sometime or later. Figure it might as well be now….you take this stuff back to the house, I'll call a cab." He said, Tai looked unsure but Rowan gave him a small smile of reassurance, "I'll be fine…..just might get back late." He said honestly. Tai conceded and tuned the keys in the ignition, as he drove away, Rowan pulled his scroll and dialed a cab.

* * *

"You sure this is the place kid?" the driver asked as he pulled to a stop outside the gates to Wayne Manor. Rowan pulled his wallet out and paid the driver for his service before exiting the car.

"Yeah, thanks. Keep the change." Rowan replied, closing the door behind him and making his way to the gate while the Cab turned around and drove off the way it came. Walking up to the gate, he looked around for some sort of buzzer and found one on the stone side pillar of the gate. Pressing the call button, he spoke, "Look I know you're in there! I need to talk to you!" he said into the buzzer. He let go to get some sort of response, however nothing came.

He pressed the buzzer again, "Look my dad is Herold Bryce. He was an accountant for your company…..he was killed five days ago. I don't know why but I found these files and…" he bowed his head as he took a breath, "I don't know what to do…these files….they say there's something going on, there's money transfers he found that goes to this one guy, and these projects…..I don't know what it all means but if my dad died because of this….he deserves justice for it…so please….help me." He pleaded to the machine.

For a few moments there was nothing but silence, the only sound being the wind howling. Then the gates creaked open, much to the young man's relief.

Bruce Wayne watched as the youth made his way up the drive towards his manor, a conflicted look on his face.

 **AN: I've been wanting to write a Batman story for SO LONG. I wanted to write batman back when I was writing Legend of the Spider-Man but couldn't find the right angle. But now? I think I got it. However that's my opinon, so tell me what you think and I'll keep writing!**


	2. Chapter 2: Rebirth pt2

Rebirth Part 2

It took some explaining to convince Bruce that his plight was worthwhile. But after showing him the files, Bruce took him down to the cave where he had before exiled Rowan from. Bruce sat in the chair in front of the large computer checking the records against the files his father had collected, Rowan meanwhile was scratching behind the Great Dane's ears, the canine leaning into his hand while he showed him affection. When Rowan heard the chair creek he looked up, "Your father was right to be concerned, from what the files show, someone at my company has been constructing unorthodox weapons, nerve gas, high frequency sonics, and selling them to someone." Wayne said, starting to grit his teeth as he listed off what was being made.

Rowan walked over beside the chair and flipped through the files, "What about this guy here? Pratt Keet?" he asked, pointing to the name his father highlighted.

The older man ran his left hand across his chin in contemplation, "Possible he could be the scientist developing these. But looking at his bank records, he hasn't been using the money given to him. No sign of a new car, house, or any other large purchases." He explained. Rowan gave him a confused look, "If he had all that money why not spend it…unless he's using the money to purchase the materials he needs for these projects." He realized.

"So, what do we do?" Rowan asked.

Bruce turned to him with a frown, "You asked me to look at these….and I can't ignore what's going on in my company. But this is a police matter. You should- "he began.

"Are you kidding me?! Look the cops are convinced the Mutants are the ones who killed my dad. If I bring them this then they'll just say that it has nothing to do with it!" Rowan protested, making the elderly man glare at him. Rowan felt himself want to back off but he held his ground. Eventually however Bruce looked back to the screen, granting Rowan a chance to plead his case. "Look…. obviously, you're in no shape to go out there. And I'm not asking you to but you're the world's greatest detective, that's all I'm asking for. Not Batman." He said, gesturing to the hall where all the costumes where stored.

Bruce stayed silent for a few minutes before he spoke, "It's my company. I should be able to see who approved these cash transfers. When I do that, then I'll have a suspect." He said as he stood from his chair and grabbed his cane.

"Great, let's go." Rowan said as he started towards the stairs leading up to the cave entrance.

"Who said you're going?" Bruce asked, making the young man turn around to look at him, "If these men are at my company, and they see you there with me, asking questions? How do you think that will turn out?" he asked harshly. Rowan bit his tongue, he wasn't wrong after all, "You're staying here while I look into it. If I come up with anything then I'll contact the police." He said as he walked past the young man.

"What about the projects? That gas, the sonics, all of that stuff?" he asked as he fallowed Bruce up the steps, "It's already been made and you know the police will cut a deal to find it!" he spat out, making Bruce turn his head back to look at him, he wasn't exactly wrong either. "Let's say you find out who's moving the money, those weapons are still out there and they can still hurt people!" he protested, Bruce's grip on his cane tightened, he knew that. "There's got to be something we can do." He said, hoping that this wasn't the best-case scenario.

"There is." Bruce said before turning around and giving the teen a sneer, "You do what I goddamn tell you to do." He stated harshly before continuing up the stairs, ending the conversation. Rowan watched as he left until he heard the door close, leaving him in the cave alone. The young man let out a sigh of frustration before walking back towards the computer and sitting down in the chair and spinning it to face the monitors.

Looking up at the monitors, he noticed that he was still logged into the finances portfolio of Wayne Enterprises. Looking back towards the door, he turned back to the computer with a determined look, "Alright then I'll find out for myself where they're hiding these weapons." He said to himself as he leaned over and typed in the name his father highlighted, Prat Keet. What came up were several tabs along with a picture of the man, his dirty blonde hair and tanned skin were his most defining features, he had emerald colored eyes and had a chiseled jaw like Bruce.

The tabs listed his hours, his department, his salary, his medical history, and his badge use to name just a few. However, the last one was what caught his eyes, "Badge…. wait, dad had one he used to get into work…I wonder…" he muttered as he reached for the file his father had. Turning to the financial page that showed that the money went to him, he looked at the listed date. Clicking on the Badge tab, a list of dates and locations came up, scrolling down the page to the date when he received payment, he read that his badge was used at the Wayne Enterprise storage facility. Checking the other dates, the transfers were made, he found a pattern, he visited this storage facility a few weeks after each deposit was made into his account. And the last transaction was a week ago.

"So why are you going here Prat?" he asked himself aloud. Standing up from the chair he grabbed the file and turned to the 'projects' that his father discovered. "Wait…. why are you making weapons in the first place….and if you are making them you'd need some place to store them." He said in realization before looking up at the Wayne Storage unit name. Walking back to the computer, he clicked on the depot and found the storage area number was fifty-two, Rowan grinned to himself, "Got you asshole…but what now?" he asked himself aloud.

He knew where the projects were stored but what could he do? Wayne was right, if these were really the people who killed his father they would kill him if they caught him anywhere near this place.

Rowan's eyes went over to the closet of costumes. Walking over to the door, he pressed the button to open it. The door slid open and the hallway was once again lit up. Walking down the hall he took in the sight of the costumes, everyone had heard of Batman growing up, he was similar to the boogieman, a masked figure that attacked all evil doers at night. _Beware the Batman…right._ he thought to himself.

He noticed a costume that wasn't a batsuit, it lacked a cape and had a blue angular symbol on its chest with blue lines that went down the arms to the two innermost fingers. "Too flashy." He muttered, the next one was clearly for a woman, "Wrong gender." The next one was for a young boy, it was red in color with green pants and a bright yellow cape. "Walking target right there."

When he reached the end of the hall he came to the last suit. It was black in color with a slight mesh pattern in the black made it look almost like it was skintight, the white eyes stared back into his as he put his hand against the glass. As his hand made contact though, the glass lit up with a computerized Hud on the glass, red letters formed a description of the suit's functions.

 _'_ _Batsuit Mark 9. Suit is made from refitting cloth that adjusts to wearer's build, plating located on chest, abdominals, forearms, thighs, legs, and head. Capable of withstanding multiple projectiles until needed repair. Fireproof to degrees exceeding one thousand and five hundred degrees Celsius, holo-computer located on right wrist with connection to bat computer. Batarang dispenser located on wrists, disc launches on top of hands, rocket boosters located on feet, glide wings that unfold from shoulders and back when arms outreached which allow for flight with rocket boosters, gas powered grappling hook located on top wrist. Echolocation bugs on tips of fingers that are capable of hearing through solid objects'_

 _'_ _Utility Belt contains smoke pellet dispenser, EMP charges, pocket thrusters, small tracers, two hundred yards of rope, explosive dispenser, UV flashlight, tweezers, bags for evidence, radio scrambler, dust detector, high powered laser cutter, and fire extinguisher pellets.'_

Rowan finished reading the description and looked back up at the suit. Pulling the glass door open, Rowan reached in and touched the suit. The fabric felt like something akin to mesh of sports shirts but with a patter sewn into it that was barely noticeable. There was some stitching down the sides of the front and arms and to the legs. However, he could feel the hard surface beneath the fabric, taking the mask off the mannequin he put it aside and began to take the rest of the suit off the dummy.

Stripping out of his clothes to his boxers, he pulled the suit on with the boots, pants, top, and gloves in that order. He quickly found that the suit was a little big for him, not so much that it was baggy but it crinkled at the joints. Slipping the mask on over his head and adjusting it for him to see, he felt the entire suit tighten around him until it fit him near perfectly. Blinking a few times his eyes finally adjusted to the mask and got a look at himself in the mirror, he wasn't as well built as Bruce must have been when he last wore this suit, however he was the same height so it wasn't a stark change, he just looked a little thinner.

The young man smirked to himself in the glass, his reflection showing him in the suit, "Damn…. this is awesome." He said with a slight excitement in his voice as he made his way to the hall's door. He walked out to the cave floor, "Ok…better figure out how this thing works before I break something." He said to himself, looking down at his boots he saw ports on the heels, the suit description came to mind, rocket boosters. The cave ceiling was high above his head so he hopefully wouldn't hit it if he did this right.

Clicking his heels against the floor, nothing happened. He did a small hop trying to trigger the rockets but it didn't work. "Ok then how the hell do I- "he asked before pushing up on his toes like he couldn't see over something. Suddenly the ports on his heels ignited and propelled him up, he flew up but his lack of balance caused him to fly forward over the computer and towards the railing to the lower level platform. "Woah, Woah, whoa!" he yelled as he fell, reaching his arms out for something to grab onto. wings spread out from his shoulders and back and ran along is arms, causing him to slow his decent.

He managed to land on his own two feet, pulling his arms inward he looked at the wings, they were shaped like bat wings but was back on the front and black on the back. "Ok…so if I angle my feet the right way, I boost and holding my arms out make the wings pop out…. ok so far so good." He said aloud as the wings folded back up, looking around the platform risen from the ground he saw that the path connected to the platform lead down a dark tunnel. Looking back to where he fell from he saw there was a section of cave wall carved out underneath the computer, it looked like a sort of lab.

In the opposite direction of the path was what he could only describe as a museum, there were a number of displays that showcased various memorabilia, but Rowan couldn't focus on that right now, he needed to learn how to work this suit. "Alright what else did it have? Batarang dispenser. How do I do that?" he asked as he felt around his belt for anything that fit that description, suddenly he felt something slide into his hand when he dipped two fingers between casings.

Holding his hand up, he saw that between his fingers was a thin piece of metal, pressing his thumb to the base, winged edges extended out from the sides and curved down, "Woah…so wait does he just- "he started as he pulled his arm back and then threw it towards the path, the projectile flew through the air with a slight curve to its trajectory. "Hmm…..I kind of get it, maybe a little practice?" he proposed before shaking his head, "Arg! No time! Got to get to that supply depot." He said aloud as he ran towards the staircase.

Rowan ascended the stairs to the study and opened the clock entrance, waiting for him was the dog, the Great Dain looked up at him and tilted his head to the side, "Easy boy…. I'll return this. Promise." He said as he shut the clock behind him. Looking out the window he could see the city of vale. Walking to the window he opened it slightly before slipping out and dropping into the yard. Running towards the lights he soon came to the cliff that the Mansion resided on.

Looking over the edge of the cliff, he saw the ground about ten stories below. Rowan took a breath as he held his arms at his sides and then held them out, extending the wings. "Ok. Here it goes." He said before diving off the edge and falling towards the ground with his arms pointed back, he grew closer and closer to the ground until he extended his arms, the wings caused him to swoop up into the air and fly up towards Vale.

Rowan was smiling more than he had been in days, _I can fly…. I CAN FUCKING FLY!_ He thought as he tilted his right arm down and glided towards the right, angling his feet correctly he boosted upwards into the air a bit, giving him more airtime.

With time, he found himself gliding towards the top of one of the taller buildings, specifically towards an antenna, grabbing the pole with his left hand he spun around the beam from his momentum before stopping on the side of it. Looking out across the city, he lessened his grip and slid down the antenna to the square base made up of crisscrossing metal support beams. "Ok the Storage Depot is in the industrial district. Should take me an hour or so to get there. Hopefully I get back before the old man realizes I swiped the suit." He muttered to himself before diving from the antenna base and unfolding his wings.

* * *

Bruce arrived at Wayne Enterprises just as they were locking up for the night, the night guard let him in though. He did own the place after all.

The elevator ride up to his office took a few minutes, the elevator opened to his office, situated against the curved windows that stretched up to the ceiling was his desk. Walking over to the old wooden desk he sat down in his seat and pulled up his holo computer, typing in his login he pulled up the Wayne Enterprises database and searched the account of Prat Keet.

The man's file came up, employee for about five years, went to collage for a master's degree in advanced sciences but went for a bachelor's degree instead. No noticeable projects on the books, though not for lack of trying he has submitted several project ideas but was turned down for every one of them. Bruce frowned, _Rejected time and time again, hard worker who is never given a chance to put his ideas forward? No wonder he went off the books for his project._ Bruce thought to himself.

Pulling up his financial records, he looked up the money transferred into his account through the multiple transfers. Looking into the transfers, his eyes widened at what he saw, they read as normal payments.

"That can't be right…. unless…" he muttered as a possibility came to mind, Prat may not be the mastermind behind this, someone could just be using him to make the weapons, and disguising the embezzlement of funds as regular pay for project funding. But the problem was that could only be authorized by a board member or someone with that level of clearance. Bruce grit his teeth, this meant someone in his company, on his board, was making weapons and selling them. He made a company policy over thirty years ago that they would NEVER produce or sell weapons, and now someone has gone against that and used his own company, his own people, to undermine that.

When he found out who was responsible for this he would-

Suddenly a pop up appeared on his screen, _'Batsuit locator activated. Tracking now.'_ It read before it loaded up a map of where the suit was. Bruce's eyes widened before he pieced together what happened, "Oh that little son of a- "

* * *

Rowan landed on the ledge of a water tower in the industrial district, across an elevated highway was the Supply Depot, it was a large compound about five miles by five miles long with a security fence surrounding its perimeter. There are also security towers in the four corners of the property, a large structure was in the center with the Wayne logo on the side of it with a number of smaller structures like warehouses and office buildings. "Ok I'm looking for storage area fifty-two, where would that be?" he asked himself.

Most likely they would be in one of the warehouses, but he couldn't just check all of them, he only had a few hours before Prat would leave. As he readied to jump he stopped, _'Just what do you think you're doing?!'_ Rowan nearly fell off the tower at the sudden voice. It was Bruce's, and he was clearly not happy.

"Um…you've reached the automated voicemail of Rowan Bryce, please leave a message after the beep…..beep." he said aloud, not being able to think of anything else to say. "Wait, where are you?" he asked.

 _'_ _The cave. There's a radio communicator in the cowl. And you're returning that suit right now!'_ Wayne ordered, Rowan ran his hands down his face. He figured Wayne would be back at the cave just as he finished doing what he needed to do. But clearly, he underestimated the elderly man.

"Look I figured out that Prat? He's here at the storage facility. He's storing the weapons here and I got to stop him!" he explained as he stepped towards the edge of the tower, ready to jump off, however he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, unable to move at all, "What the-I-I can't move!" he said surprised.

 _'_ _It's a kill switch, shuts down the suits functions and keeps the wearer in place. Now there's two ways this is going to go, you're either going to come back and hand me that suit or I will call the police and tell them where to find you.'_ Wayne threatened, making the young man's eyes widen. If he was caught in this suit then he'd probably be jailed, Yang, Ruby, and Tai would find out…he couldn't have that.

But he was not happy about it, "Alright, Fine Let the guy who killed my dad get away with it. Let the bad guys win." He replied bitterly.

 _'_ _There's more to it than just Prat. Someone else is behind this, they're just using him. I'll take care of this at my company.'_ Bruce explained over the commlink.

Rowan grew only more angered at that, "I know that you know where I'm coming from…. I read up on you after I met you. I know you lost your mom and dad." He said, the commlink was silent for a moment, "I didn't get it, why would he do this then? But when I read that the guy was never convicted or caught? I understood…. you knew, you knew that justice isn't always done. You know like I do that anger, that rage you feel when you think about how if someone was there to stop it, then you wouldn't have lost your parents, all because of some punk with a gun." Rowan finished, thinking bake to the rage he's felt over the past week, it was at himself for not being there to do anything. But now he could.

For a few moments, there was the pregnant silence that filled the air. Suddenly Rowan could move again. _'Where is he keeping the weapons?'_ Wayne asked, Rowan smiled.

"Area fifty-two. There's a few warehouses here, I'm guessing that that's where they'd be stored." He said, knelling on the edge of the water tower and overlooking the property.

 _'_ _That must he unit fifty-two. But if the weapons are stored there then the guards must be being paid to overlook it. It's in warehouse D, to the west of you.'_ He explained over the comm, Rowan looked over to the west, _'If you want a better look, the cowl can zoom in, press your finger to the left side of your eyes.'_ Rowan did as he said, his vision began to close in on the building. The warehouse was a squared off building with a long skylight on the roof. On the side of the building there was a small window open.

Boosting off the roof he extended the wings out and dived underneath the freeway and pulled up, gliding along the south wall of the building until he reached the window. He swung his feet out to slow his glide, reaching forward the wings stayed out while he grabbed the corner of the window. Pulling himself up into the building, he entered a small bullpen area, one of the small cubicles had a light on. Rowan snuck behind a wall separating cubicles, crouching so the wars of his suit wouldn't be seen.

 _'_ _You're in the filing offices, there's some maintenance going on to the ventilation system, should be a hole in the ceiling you can get into.'_ Bruce advised. Rowan peered out and looked down the to the far side of the room past the lit cubical to see a ladder leading up into the ceiling where the panels had been removed. _'The suit has sound mufflers in the boots, if you move slow you shouldn't be heard.'_

The young man nodded, hunched over he crept past the cubicles, passing the lit one he saw that the worker was watching some videos on the internet. Reaching the open ceiling, he jumped up and grabbed the rim, pulling himself up, he saw that there was enough space for him to move if he stayed crouched. He went towards what he guessed was the middle of the warehouse. He soon reached a ventilation duct, giving it a good amount of force, the cover broke off its hinges, grabbing it before it fell he put it back into the vent so no one could hear it fall.

Beneath him there were hundreds of containers, stacked to various heights throughout the warehouse. "Perfect it's a needle in a haystack." He grumbled before seeing a few guards below, they didn't look like regular security guards, their uniforms consisted of something that a SWAT team would wear, except instead of blue it was white with black Kevlar body armor on the chest, shoulders, thighs, and legs. "What do you guys keep here that permits automatic weapons and guards ready for a Grim attack?" he asked Bruce.

 _'_ _You'd be surprised how many close calls we've had with corporate espionage. Storage unit should be straight ahead. But that's still a lot of containers.'_ Wayne added. Rowan nodded, if that was the case then he would have to wait until the meeting with Prat, dropping from the vent to the top of a container he ran across the tops of the container and jumping across the gaps between the containers. Slowing to a halt as he neared the fifty second area, as listed on the wall in front of the containers.

"I-I-I'm still not sure we should keep doing this. After what happened this just seems too soon." Rowan stopped and peered over the side of the container, walking past the rows of containers was Prat, he was talking on the phone to someone with a few armed guards walking with him along with a forklift fallowing him. Rowan remembered the echolocation devices in the fingertips of the gloves, reaching his two fingers out he could hear the voice on the phone.

 _'_ _Chill your jets, the man was sliced. Ain't no one looking you or your big man's way.'_ The voice on the phone replied, Rowan however gritted his teeth in anger, that was Mutant slang. Which meant his father had been killed by the gang, just not for what he thought, _'Just get the merch to the booth and we'll talk cash.'_ The voice on the other end said before hanging up. Rowan retracted his hand and clenched it in anger as he gritted his teeth.

 _'_ _Rowan. Your angry. But now is not the time to fight, you want to stop the Mutants? Then fallow the cargo to the buyer.'_ Bruce said, Rowan was angry. But he knew that he was right, he needed to fallow these weapons and then act, so he stowed the anger away for now, he'd use it for fuel later. For now, he watched as Prat unlocked the doors to the container. The Forklifted drove in and lifted a pallet containing green glowing cylinders, Rowan recognized them as the same canisters from the pictures his father had in the folder.

Rowan watched as the forklift drove the pallet towards a hallway with the words 'Loading bay' on the wall above. Dropping from the top of the containers, Rowan fallowed after the convoy to the loading area where a delivery truck was awaiting the cargo. Slipping behind a crate, Rowan watched as they loaded up the canisters, _'There's tracers in the third pouch to your right.'_ Bruce said, the young man nodded to himself and reached for the pouch containing the tracers.

 _Click_

"Little late for Halloween, isn't it?" Rowan glanced back to see that one of the guards had caught him and was pointing his rifle at the back of his head. The young man swung his forearm back, batting the gun away as he fired, alerting the others as he kicked his foot out into the man's, making him fall to the ground.

"Is-Is that-?" one of them started as Rowan got up and ran for new cover, kicking the guard who found him in the side of his head as he did, "Light him up!" one of the guards shouted before firing at the young man. Rowan dispensed a batarang and looked back to the guards firing at him, throwing at the guards, the projectile he aimed at their guns stuck one in the head, kicking them out.

"Ouch. Must be like throwing a rock at someone's head." He muttered to himself as he reached into the pouch and tossed it at the truck as it began to drive out and into the night, Prat in the driver's seat with a fearful expression. That only left the guards, "Um, so your guards are shooting at me, what do I do?" he asked as he pressed his finger to his ear where the comm was located.

He found cover behind a guard rail that stopped someone from falling onto the rams where the trucks loaded up. _'They're guards who were bought out by criminals. Don't be afraid to get rough.'_ Bruce said, making Rowan grin, he peered out from behind cover to see five guards closing in, he felt around the belt. _'Smoke grenade is the cylinder on the left side of the buckle. Thermal vision will come on as soon as you enter the smoke.'_ Wayne said.

Rowan cupped the underside of the cylinder and tapped the top of it with his thumb, casing a gas pellet to drop out. Tossing it over his cover a large cloud of smoke erupted from the small ball. The sound of coughing guards told him it was safe to move in, vaulting over the railing he rushed the guards, his vison picking up the guards' heat signatures, _'Remember their armed, get the guns out of their hands.'_ Bruce said.

Rowan ran to the first guard, he grabbed the barrel of the gun and yanked it out of his grasp with one hand and landed a right hook across his face as he tossed the gun aside. He followed up with a powerful blow to his gut, making him bend over and elbow strike the top of his head. _'Good. But don't get cocky, four left and the smoke will dissipate any second.'_ Bruce informed. Rowan looked around to see a guard behind him with the thermal vision picking them up, he swung his foot up and landed the blow upside his chin.

 _'_ _Top of your hands have disc launchers, the suit's head's up display will show you where they'll shoot.'_ Bruce informed, Rowan raised his fists, the discs fired out from the ports atop his hands and hit their targets, one in the shoulder of the guard with a superficial cut and the other in the foot. _'Careful! Any more lower and it would have cut an artery and they would have bled out.'_ Bruce chastised, Rowan took a note of that as he grabbed the one he hit in the foot and threw him into the other guard.

He suddenly felt something hit his lower back, he yelled out as he fell.

He had been shot!

The thermal vison switched off as the smoke faded away, turning his head back he saw shooter aim at him. _'Bryce move!'_ Rowan rolled out of the way and pushed himself up onto his feet, he boosted himself up into the air and spread his wings out as he bent his torso back, making him maneuver himself so that he summersaulted and flew directly back down at the shooter. He rammed him into the ground, knocking him out as Rowan rolled off in pain.

The young man let out a painful groan, "Uggghhhh, that was not smart." He muttered to himself as he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees.

 _'_ _That's what happens when you use yourself as a battering ram after getting shot. Suit sensors say the armor stopped it, you're fine. Now get up and after hat Van. Now!'_ Rowan forced himself up and used the rocket boosters to make him fly out of the loading area, using the wings he uplifted into the air and over the fence surrounding the compound.

Rowan flew to a fire escape and landed on the railing, "Ok so how do I fallow the tracker?" he asked the former dark knight.

 _'_ _Rise up either of your forearms and tap it, it'll bring up a link to the Batcomputer.'_ Bruce instructed, Rowan fallowed his instructions. Tapping the suit, a red tinted holographic touchpad with tabs on top of the pad and screen appeared on his forearm, Bruce's image appeared in the corner of the screen. One of the tabs read tracers, tapping it brought up a map of the entire city of Vale. _'I'll pin it to your HUD, you'll see a beacon and that will be where the tracer is.'_ Bruce explained as he typed something into the Batcomputer.

Looking around, Rowan saw a beacon in the distance, driving towards the residential district border.

"Got 'em!" he said before pulling his wings out and diving off the fire escape.

* * *

Prat kept glancing in the mirror as he drove to the meeting point, Batman was there! THE Batman!

Granted he wasn't as tall as he imagined but he was there and trying to stop them nonetheless. Meaning that he knew what they had been up to, but he couldn't just stop the truck and run, if he did he knew the Mutants would find him. He looked at himself in the mirror above the dashboard, he just needed to hand these canisters off to the mutants and then he would leave the Kingdom, he'd hand in his papers for a transfer, the boss would understand hopefully and he could go to Atlas or Mistral or somewhere safe.

He pulled off the main road to a dirt path, fallowing the tail, he soon arrived at an abandoned dump, old piles of trash scattered around with a few barrels lit to show the path to the Mutant Gang's proving grounds. Fallowing the path, Prat stopped the truck when his headlights shined on a trio of mutants. There were about a dozen or so scattered throughout the area along with the tree waiting in the middle of the road, two of them wearing shirts saying that their names were Rob and another Bob, and the one standing between them was a man with a shaved head and red visor, he looked like he was made of pure muscle, he wore a jean jacket with the sleeves ripped off, black pants with a spiked belt, and combat boots.

Prat parked the truck and climbed out of the driver's seat, "We need to hurry, he's was right on my tail." Prat said as he walked around the back of the truck to the doors. He felt a large hand on his shoulder and froze in fear, "Cool jets main man, what got you spooked?" the Mutant Leader asked with a large grin, "You brought the merch and we paid the piper." He explained as he put an arm around the man in a friendly manner.

Walking to the back doors, Rob and Bob opened the doors to reveal the green glowing canisters. The Mutant Leader grinned at the sight of the canisters, "These going to send a quick and clean message. Mutants isn't all talk! Mutants mean business!" he said loudly enough for his men to hear him, making them cheer out.

Prat cleared his throat, "um…sir, not to burst your bubble but there's a little problem." He said in a hushed voice, making the Mutant Leader cock an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah? What is it?" the Leader asked.

"Me!" The mutant leader looked up in time to have a pair of boots collide with his face, sending him sliding across the ground from the force of the impact.

Rowan landed on the ground as his wings folded up, looking back to Rob and Bob, he glared at them, "Hands off the truck before I rip them off!" he barked at them the duo looked at each other before slowly backing away from the truck. The young man caught Prat trying to hide behind the truck, "Keet. Stay right where you are, when I'm finished here I got more than a few questions for you." He ordered, the man gulped before nodding obediently.

Rowan turned back to look at the Mutant Leader, "You had someone killed one week ago! His name was Harold Bryce. And you're going to tell me why you killed him!" Rowan ordered as he made his way to the Mutant Leader as he got up from the ground, he towered over the young man, being an abnormal seven-five, he also got a look at his filed teeth when the man grinned down at him.

"Yeah little poster? Or what?" he challenged as he took the jean jacket remains off, leaving him shirtless.

Rowan's glare didn't waver from him, "Or I will beat it out of your bloody, broken, body." He growled out viciously. When the mutant leader didn't stop grinning, Rowan threw the first punch.

The Leader grabbed him by his wrist and pulled him in, kneeing him in the gut before being punched across his face. Hitting the ground, the young man was back up again and swung a left hook into the Mutant Leader's side, it was like hitting a brick wall but it made him stumble slightly. Rowan landed a gut punch but it had little effect before he was before he was grabbed by the ear of his mask and his head was violently pulled up.

The Leader hit him with his free hand, again, and again, and again, and again before his knuckles slammed into the new hero's jaw, sending him onto his back. _'Bryce listen! You can't beat him down he's too strong. You need to-'_

"Shut. Up." Rowan hissed as blood came out the corner of his mouth over the suit, as the Mutant Leader stood over him, he recoiled his feet in and double kicked him in the stomach, making the Mutant Leader double over briefly before Rowan rolled forward onto his feet and uppercutted him right in the face! The sound of his visor breaking echoed through the junkyard. HE could hear the 'ooh' of the surrounding Mutants, all watching the two brawl.

 _'_ _Rowan. You're mad, but you can't fight him with brute force! He is bigger, and he is stronger than you. So, you need to be smarter than him. Understand?'_ Rowan wanted to yell out of him, this was his fight, he needed to make this big hulking man pay for what he did to his father…. but Bruce was right. He needed to fight smart, he nodded as the leader bared his teeth. _'Alright now listen. He's been going for heavy hits, stay light on your feet, when you see him make an opening, you hit it. Got it?'_ Rowan nodded again as the Mutant Leader charged.

He ducked under a punch aimed at his head, he quickly jabbed into the Mutant's side under his outstretched arm. He brought the elbow back and struck Rowan in the side of his head dazing him before he was grabbed by the neck and lifted up, "That all you got? You thinking you something son? You think you're the Batman?" The Mutant Leader asked mockingly as he raised his fist for another punch.

Rowan glared into the man's eyes with all the hate he had pent up, "I AM BATMAN!" he shouted before bringing his foot up and kicking him full force between his shoulder and arm. There was a loud CRACK before the man yelled in pain, dropping Rowan as he held his dislocated arm.

He locked eyes with the young hero he threw a haymaker with his good hand, Rowan sidestepped it and raised his foot again, slamming it into the side of the Leader's knee, He kneeled, before he could yell, Rowan's fist slammed into the side of his head, knocking him down into the ground. The new hero got on top of him, grabbing him by the neck with one hand, he struck him directly in the face, over and over, he felt the man's nose break against his knuckles, he felt his hand begin to bruise, he didn't stop until he felt winded.

By that time, his hand was covered in blood and the Mutant could only see right out of one eye, his other swollen shut. "Now…. tell me…why?" he asked breathless as the fallowers looked at the scene in shock.

The Mutant Leader struggled to talk, "P…Prat's boss man…said he had a rat…. wanted me to kill it…. show I was the real deal…." He explained. Rowan still had anger coursing through his veins, the good news was that the Mutant Leader wasn't the only one he could take it out on. Standing up, he looked around to see the various gang members still with fear.

"Listen good everyone. You see this?" He yelled out as he pointed to the fallen leader, "If I catch a single Mutant in the city of Vale, I will find each and every one of you and beat you worse than him! Are we clear?!" he shouted out, when he didn't receive any objections he turned his attention to Prat, the man was white as a sheet with fear, "And you, you are going to tell me everything about who your boss-"

Wham!

Rowan hit the side of the van, turning his head back he saw the mutant leader was back on his feet. "Oh you have got to be shitting me." He muttered as Prat away behind one of the burning barrels beside the road. Rowan boosted away from the Van, he was still exhausted from their fight and he knew he couldn't win another round. Landing further back from the Van, the Leader made his way to the back and grabbed one of the canisters. Rowan's eyes broadened as he picked one of them up with his one good hand and started squeezing it with his strength.

"You make me a fool? You make me a fool?!" he shouted as he started to walk over with the canister. Rowan held his hand out, a batarang slid into his hand and extended.

He aimed for where his hand, "Please don't miss." He said to himself before throwing the bat shaped projectile. It spun through the air and struck the leader in the hand, making him shout out as he dropped it. Rowan grinned, "Yes!" he cheered before seeing the canister bounce across the ground towards Prat, gas spraying out from a crack sustained in the fall.

"No!" both Rowan and Pratt shouted as the gas sprayed out. Rowan was about to use the booster to try and save the man, but he was rushed by the Mutant Leader. Rowan however used the boosters to slam his knees into the face of the Mutant Leader, landing behind him, Batman turned around ready to fight, the man wavered for but a moment before falling.

The sound of an engine turning on made him turn around to see the Van drive away, "Prat wait!" he called out. However, the Van was driving as fast as possible away.

He readied to fly after it but Bruce's voice stopped him, _'Rowan, he's a dead man walking. In a few hours…. you saw the photos.'_ He said, Rowan bowing his head in sadness. He looked back to the Mutant leader, walking over he reached around in the back of the belt and pulled out some cable, tying the massive Mutant up as best he could, he took a step back. _'I already called the police. They'll be there to pick him up shortly…. I also included the confession from him…. he'll go away for a long time.'_ Bruce said, trying to give the young man some solace. _'You better get out of there.'_

Rowan nodded, the other Mutants were gone, however the discarded visors around the grounds made him think that they had rethought their life choices for now. "Right…. look I know I said I'll return the suit and I will but…it's almost dawn and I need to get back home before my friends start to worry…. I'll give the suit back. I swear." He said, when he received nothing but silence, he unfolded his wings and took off into the air, towards Patch.

* * *

When Rowan awoke, his entire body screamed for him to get the hell back to sleep.

He got back to the island of Patch around three a.m. in the morning, sneaking into his room through the window, he undressed from the suit and hid it under his bed before going to the bathroom to look at the extent of the damage he got from last night. He had a nasty purple bruise where he had been shot on is lower back, his lip was split, and his face felt like it was hit by a car.

It was no wonder why he slept in until noon. When he heard someone knocking on his door, he groaned as he sat up in bed. "What?" he asked.

"First, are you decent?" Ruby asked from the other side, Rowan chuckled at the girl's question.

"Yes Ruby." He replied.

"Ok then that's god because second, we got company! Get your bum out here!" she called out before he heard her retreat down the hall, Rowan groaned as he got up out of bed and changed out of his pajamas and into his normal clothes. Walking out of his room, he walked down the hall and down the stairs to the living room, when he reached the base of the steps, he froze when he saw who was sitting on the couch.

Bruce Wayne was sitting on the lime green couch with a cup of coffee in his hand as Taiyang sat down beside him with his own cup, "Sorry I don't have a broader selection, I just like it black." Tai said politely.

Bruce however gave him a friendly smile, "I prefer mine black anyway. Only way I can get ready for the day." He said, Bruce turned his head to see Rowan, "Ah, Rowan. Good to see you again." He said sweetly. The young man however felt like he was in a dream, it was like he was seeing the mirror image of the Bruce Wayne he met, a polite and sweet old man.

"Um…. good to see you two Mister Wayne…...um, what are you doing here?" he asked somewhat bluntly as he walked around the table in between the couch and tv stand. He said that he would give the suit back to him and he fully intended to…. after one last flight, maybe. But the fact that Wayne had here made him nervous.

"I was just telling Taiyang here about how you helped me with a few…. errands yesterday. It got me thinking that in my age and line of work, I could use someone like you for some personal and private jobs. Go pick up this, deliver that, an ally as it were." Bruce explained to the young man, Rowan connected the dots and could not believe what he was asking. He was asking him to be Batman. Bruce took a sip of coffee, "I'll warn you though, I have some lofty expectations. I expect nothing less than perfection from all my employees."

Rowan nodded in understanding, glancing over at Tai he saw that the man was giving him a short nod of encouragement. _Oh, if he only knew._ Rowan thought. He considered the offer, it was clear that someone needed to stop people like the Mutant Leader and whoever was making the Weapons. "I think I can do that." He said, Bruce stood from his seat with a smile.

"Very well Mister Bryce. Welcome to my world." He said, raising his hand for him to shake. Rowan took the hand and shook it, he felt like he was making a deal with the devil to be honest, but he accepted nonetheless.

* * *

The van carrying the canisters laid on its side, a broken road barrier a few feet behind it, the driver door was flung open. An eerie green glow resonated from the driver's cab, a hand reached out to the doorframe, the skin was translucent, glowing a green color with the bones black. Another had come up with a syringe in it, the man hoisted himself up out of the cab and fell out into the ground with a grunt. Pushing himself up onto his hands and knees, he found himself looking into the side mirror that had fallen off during the crash.

Staring back into his eyes was the image of a human head, glowing green with his blackened skull looking back. "…he…hehehe…" he started chuckling as he began to stand, his hands clutching the sides of his head, "HehehehahahahaHAHAHAHAHAH!"

 **AN: And so, it begins.**

 **Now, I made an OC for this story because Terry McGinnis wouldn't work in RWBY. Boil it down and Terry is Bruce's clone, literally. And as far as we've seen there is no cloning technology or anything on that level of genetics in RWBY. And even then, that was after a secret government agency made to combat superheroes was formed.**

 **Here, Batman is the only 'Superhero' and even then, they have those in the forms of Huntsmen and Huntresses. So, Terry wouldn't exactly work here. Now the suit I described is basically how it looked in Batman Arkham City (Arkham knight is cool in concept but that design is kind of shit.) but basically, it's the suit you know. And I included that little training scene at the beginning because I found it weird that Terry somehow knew exactly how to use the suit with no prior knowledge.**

 **Anyway, see you guys next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3: Courrption

**Corruption**

It had been three weeks since Rowan started training under Bruce. He had yet to put on the suit again since. He understood why too, Bruce had been taking him through all the utilities that the suit offered, he knew where everything was on the belt now and was had moved on to the more physical and intellectual side of his tutelage. "If gunpowder is comprised of what three substances?" Bruce asked, Rowan currently hanging upside down with his legs around a horizontal pole. They were in the gym located up in the Manor, it had almost every form of workout equipment from dumbbells to treadmills, to weightlifting machines and gymnastics equipment.

Rowan was currently doing crunches on the pull up bar, "Erg Sulfur…. charcoal and, erghhhh, salt?" he wavered on the last one as he did his exercise, lifting his upper body up before letting gravity push him back down. He had lost count of how any he had done but he was starting to feel the blood rushing to his head have its effect. "No! Wait, Saltpeter!" he corrected, remembering that the ingredient name just contained the word 'Salt'.

Bruce sat in a chair off to the side with a laptop, he nodded, "Correct. What are the key factors in telling how long a person has been deceased?" he asked as he pulled up a page on his computer, the page contained the pictures and names of all his board members. There were six individuals who owned large shares in his company with his shares being the majority, it was uneven so that if votes needed to take place there couldn't be a standoff. He'd known most of these people for years, and one of them had gone behind his company's back and begun to develop and sell weapons, and that was the best-case scenario, it was possible that more than one or perhaps even all of them where a part of this plot.

"Body temp, discoloration, liver condition, if blood is present then the color and saturation thereof and…. and.." he struggled as he did another crunch, "Decomposition!" He finished as he released a large breath he had been holding in his lungs. Bruce nodded, "It ok if I stop? I'm ready to fall off here." He asked, starting to reach his limit. Another nod and he reached his arms up to the bar and pulled himself up and slipping off onto the ground. Rowan bent down to the water bottle and towel on the ground, wiping the sweat from his brow before taking a drink of water.

"You're improving, lasted longer than the first time you did that." Bruce commented as Rowan walked over the gym mat to Bruce, sitting on the long cushion he took another sip of his water. When he first started this workout routine, Rowan couldn't even make it through it completely. His routine was a condensed version of what Bruce did when he was younger, before he became the Dark Knight he went through six months of intense training every day.

Rowan's fighting had also been worked on as well, obviously Bruce wasn't in the physical condition to train him hands so he requisitioned several robotic drones from the R&D and downloaded them with a multitude of Martial Art forms including Boxing, Karate, and Tai Chi to start off. He was mostly a blank slate when it came to fighting, while he knew how to fight his lack of formal training was something he needed to work on, however he was starting to pick up on the martial arts. Yesterday he managed to defeat one of the bots before he was knocked around so bad that Bruce called the match.

The young knight nodded, "Yeah, shows I'm improving at least….so what are working on boss?" he asked, making the billionaire raise a brow at him, Rowan had started calling him boss since he started his training. Rowan did it because he knew that he couldn't just refer to him by name when out in the streets, he hoped that he would be out again soon with his injuries all healed from his first night out.

"The six other board members who could have authorized Prat's transactions. So far I have two suspects." He explained as he turned the laptop around to show him. There were two pictures on the screen, the first was of a middle-aged man, he had a trimmed brown beard with a crew cut, he had tanned skin and steel blue eyes, "Coal Walters, he served in the Atlas Military, head of an advanced research and development division of the Atlas Military. He joined after Atlas Military gave him an honorable discharge." Bruce explained.

Rowan raised an eye, "Why was he discharged?" he asked.

Bruce shook his head, "Officially he put in for the discharge. But his file was blacked out, but whatever he did left him with enough sway to have the Atlas Branch of Waynetech elect him to the board." He explained as he brought up another picture, this one of a young woman, she was pale in skin tone with black fair tied back in a bun with a pair of rigid spectacles. "Sara Winters, she's a local, grew up in the residential area's less hospitable end, but she was ambitious enough to stay out of trouble and rise through the ranks of Wayne Enterprise's R&D branch."

"So, you think she's ambitious enough to make weapons in your company?" Rowan asked.

"Sara has been pushing that we branch out into new business areas to explore. And she's been known to do whatever she needs to in order to get what she wants." He added as he closed the laptop and stood up from his seat. "We need to investigate them, you're going to infiltrate their offices tonight." He explained, Rowan fallowing him through the gym to the exit.

Wayne Manor made the Rose/Xiao Long house look like a closet, the gym was in the North Wing of the manor. Walking down the hall way to the study, they stopped at a door to a parlor, entering the room Rowan fallowed Bruce to a bookcase on the wall opposite of the door, reaching to the books he grabbed a book on the middle shelf and pulled it out slightly. The entire bookcase split apart down the middle and pulled apart, reveling an elevator, stepping inside the box the pair rode down the box into the cave, the doors opened and the pair stepped out beside the stairway leading from the clock to the cave.

The Batcomputer was possibly the most advanced computer in the entire world, it had a database that was vaster than any of the CCT towers, it had accesses to every law enforcement database, and was the fastest in the entire world. Bruce took his seat in the chair, typing in a few commands on the keyboard. Rowan looked at the screens on the sides pf the biggest one in the center, the smaller screens were set to news channels, police radio, and other forms of information to give them leads.

Rowan saw one of the news stories had the newscaster, Lisa Lavender, and a picture of the Mutant Leader's mugshot. Bruce noticed it and turned on the volume, _'-Leader was convicted of a multitude of criminal charges ranging from vandalism to murder. His trial is set for tomorrow and with the amount of evidence on display, the DA is confident that this case will be a lock, and with the sudden almost overnight disappearance of the gang known as the Mutants, citizens are wondering who is responsible.'_ The female newscaster said before Bruce muted it.

"For now, that's what we need." Bruce said, directing his attention back to the screen.

Rowan looked at him curiously, "Why? Wouldn't we want them to know Batman's back?" he asked, "I mean the whole point is to make bad guys too scared to do anything." He asked.

Bruce turned his chair to look at him, "You have the means, but you need to work on your skills, so right now being an urban legend is right where you need to be." He explained before turning around in his chair, 'Which is why this office infiltration will be you'll be doing it without the suit. IF you can pull it off, then you're ready." He explained, making Rowan smiled in excitement, he frowned however when he realized that meant he needed to find a way to infiltrate a guarded building without the Batsuit. "Get to the armory and grab what you think you'll need, I'll send the building layout to your scroll tonight." He added.

Rowan nodded, walking along the railing he turned down the stairs leading to the second level of the cave, the lab he saw his first time here was a mix of a gadget and crime lab where evidence was tested and new gadgets were developed to aid the dark knight in his fight on crime. There were numerus pieces of equipment on a table against the back wall with another table in the from a few feet away, Various medical equipment was spread about as well, on the right side of the lab was the gadget's cabinet.

It was about five feet wide and came up to Rowan's chest, pulling out the top draws he found there was a number of Batarangs, folded into their inactive form. Pulling out about a dozen, he pulled out an extra one and popped the wings out, turning to the entrance of the lab, he threw it wide, the projectile curving around through the air and returning to him where he caught it, Rowan smiled.

He had been practicing how to use the batarangs in his spare time, he wasn't a trick shot yet now he could at least hit what he was aiming at. Pulling open another drawer there were a handful of gas powered grapples, they weren't large, in fact they looked like small toy guns, he could fit them in his pocket if needed. But he had tested these a few days ago, they worked like their name implied, but he still preferred the boosters on the suit.

Along with everything that Bruce was teaching him, Rowan had learned that it wasn't just the suit that made the man. Though that didn't mean it didn't help. One thing he wondered however is that Bruce never mentioned the use of either Aura or Semblance, it could be that Bruce simply didn't study how to use these, or what his semblance was something he did use but it was something that he used sparingly. Semblances could be a double-edged sword, for instance if Ruby used her speed too much she would be exhausted afterwards, and Yang's only worked if she sustained damage.

 _Maybe I should consider it. Get a little one up on the old man._ He thought to himself with a smirk as he opened another drawer, taking a gas pellet dispenser and another cylinder, the other one was a concentrated laser, with time and on its highest setting this thing could melt through steel, on its lowest it can be used to block a camera's view with light.

He took a pair of listening devices as well to bug the room, hopefully he could find somewhere that wouldn't be noticed. He also picked up a utility belt with empty compartments for him to use tonight, he couldn't have batarangs rattling around in his pockets after all.

He gathered all the supplies up and put them in his backpack, zipping it shut he retraced his steps up to the Batcomputer where Bruce was, "I'll head there tonight. I got to head home first though. Tai is staying late at Signal and asked if I could give Ruby and Yang a ride. He wants to know If I'm going to the trial tomorrow." He explained.

Bruce raised a brow, "Why wouldn't you go?" he asked.

The knight in training shrugged, "Three weeks ago I just…. let it all out, I just kept hitting him until I felt better…. I wanted to do more but…. I figure he'll hate a life in prison more than…. death." he admitted, as he turned and walked over to the staircase. Bruce however folded his hands together and watched Rowan leave, when he heard the staircase Bruce turned back to the computer. He pulled up his anonymous e-mail he used to tip off police to various crimes, he made the recipient the Wayne Enterprises Head of Security and started typing.

 _"_ _Someone will try and break into the CEO offices tonight_."

* * *

With the manor, so far away from the city, Bruce lent Rowan one of the many cars at his disposal until he, quote, "Got something suited for his line of work." So, until that time he gave Rowan what had to be the most expensive car he's ever seen, a dark blue Maserati Quattroporte.

He was both curious and excited by what that entailed, but until then he was happy to drive the luxury car. Since Patch was an Island off the coast of the city, Rowan had to park the car in an automated airship that flew from the mainland to the island. The airships were big enough to carry semi-trucks with their cargo, they had guard rails and locks on the floor to holds the wheels in place. There where prepulson on the bottom to keep it airborne and on the back to push it forward with wings on the side Rowan waited until the entire ship touched down to drive off the ship and onto solid ground once again.

Driving down the road, he drove through the town towards the towering structure in the middle of town, Signal Academy. Ruby and Yang both attended here, Ruby just starting this year and Yang going on her third year here. Rowan parked on the curb and waited for his friends' classes to let out, he looked at the school with a longing expression, Wayne had him drop out of school in Vale to properly train him. Not that he minded, he could care less about attending public school, but he had hoped that he could finally attend Signal and possibly attend with Yang and Ruby. However, he still needed a guardian's signature to attend. And while Tai was taking care of him right now his mother still counted as his legal guardian. He had managed to get in touch with her after the funeral, but it was her new husband who picked up.

Before he could stop himself, he said he called the wrong number and hung up.

His hand ran through his hair as the thought crossed his mind, it made him mad, he shouldn't be but it just did. The sound of the bell from the school ringing made Rowan sit up straight. Looking over he saw the student body being let out, he caught sight of Yang's golden maine of hair in the crowd. She caught sight of him and waved before starting towards the car, looking down in the passenger seat he saw his bag, putting it under his seat so it wouldn't be discovered. Yang opened the door and hopped inside, "Aw sweet!" she cheered as she closed the door.

"Hey, hey, watch it. Boss's car until I get my own wheels." He warned, he was grateful to Bruce for giving him the car to use. However, he also believed that it was another test from the former dark knight. Don't trash the car and don't get fired, or something like that, "Where's Ruby? You guys usually come out together." He noticed, scanning the crowd for the red hood and cloak.

Yang shrugged, "She's got weapons workshop at the end of the day, she's probably reassembling Crescent Rose." She said, guessing that Ruby got lost in customizing her weapon and lost track of time. Rowan nodded, when Ruby first showed him the weapon he thought two things. One, how could she hold something that bug up by herself, and two, what the hell was Tai and Yang thinking letting her have that? But when she explained that her Uncle Qrow was teaching her, his worries faded.

Qrow wasn't exactly their uncle, he was however Yang's. The sisters were half-sisters but it mattered little to them, Qrow was the brother of Yang's mother but she left when Yang was born. Even before that, Tai and Qrow where on the same team when they were attending Beacon Academy.

"So….are you going to the trial tomorrow?" Yang asked slowly, Rowan turned his head over to see Yang giving him a concerned look. "I mean I know that they said you didn't need to say anything but..." she trailed off, she knew that loss was hard, she saw what Summer Rose's death did to her father. He shut down, but Rowan was…...determined if anything. She knew that people dealt with loss differently but this seemed somewhat strange, Ruby told her that he openly grieved but now he seemed different.

Rowan looked back to the front window and sighed, "I don't know…I mean what's the point? He's going away to rot in jail for the rest of his life." He said with a shrug, the conversation was starting to be like Bruce's with his back at the cave. "Look I'm fine Yang…...working with Mr. Wayne has been helping me deal with it…. throw myself into work you know?"

Yang gave him a blank expression, "Your job…. being his assistant." She pointed out.

"How many jobs have you had?" Rowan replied with a small smirk, the blonde opened her mouth but closed it when she realized that he did have a point. She never had to get a job, "I'm fine. Yang. Really." He said reassuringly.

Yang didn't look entirely convinced, however before she could say more, Ruby entered the car, "Sorry I'm late, I was…. busy." she said as she took a seat in the back of the car. Rowan and Yang both turned to look at her, clearly not believing her. "Ok fine I lost a screw to Crescent Rose and to look for it." She admitted to the pair, making them both snicker before Rowan started the car and started driving towards the house.

Fifteen minutes later, Rowan pulled into the drive of the Rose/Xiao Long household. Parking the car, Ruby was out first and heading towards the house. As Rowan opened the door, he could feel Yang staring at him, he turned his head to look at her. "Yang…. I'm not saying yes, but I'm not saying no either." He explained, showing the blonde, he wasn't settled on one way or the other.

Rowan picked up his bag before stepping out of the car along with Yang. Stepping inside the house, Rowan opened the door for Yang to enter. The new knight felt his scroll vibrate in his pocket, pulling it out he read the message. _Schematics sent. Review them then infiltrate tonight. Don't get caught in offices._ Rowan sucked in his lower lip as he went up the stairs to his room.

Bruce had taught him the basics of stealth, but he was still learning. But trial by fire was how he's learned everything so far, the young man brushed these thoughts off to the side for the moment as he entered the guest room. Closing it behind him he locked it shut and laid the bag on his bed. Taking out the various equipment he gathered at the cave, he pulled out the grey and black utility belt and began loading it with the gadgets.

It took a few minutes but he managed to get everything put in place, then he moved to his closet to grab some appropriate clothes for his infiltration, a dark navy-blue hoodie, black jeans, and shoes with rubber soles along with a black bandana. Setting the clothes aside on the foot of the bed, Rowan nodded to himself. He was ready as he could be, the know at the door however made him jump, "Rowan? You awake?" Taiyang's voice asked.

Rowan kicked the utility belt under the bed, walking to the door he unlocked it an opened it to see Taiyang waiting for him, "Yeah Tai, what's up?" he asked.

The man shifted uncomfortably, "Well…. I was wondering if you were going to attend the trial tomorrow." Rowan sighed as he ran a hand down his face, "I know, I know, we've been asking you about it nonstop…. but I'M asking because…..well…..I know it'd make you feel better.

 _I don't know, beating the shit out of him made me feel a lot better. I liked it more too._ Rowan though, keeping that thought to himself.

"…. when Summer passed away…. I shut down….it was like my whole world just got turned around." He explained sadly as Rowan looked at him sympathetically, "it took me a while to snap out of it, and I know that this will help you get some closure….but it's your choice. I Don't know how your dealing with this, but I thought it could help." He explained.

Rowan honestly hadn't considered that, and while he still was mourning what happened to his father, he also felt better since he took the Mutant Leader down by himself. But tai had a point, it might do him some good to see the Mutant Leader convicted. "….ok. I'll be there tomorrow." He said with a nod, making Tai smile, "But I got some work to do for Mister Wayne, he just called me, I got to go pick something up at his office." He explained, the father looking at him strangely.

"Really? Well ok, just be back decent. Ok?" he asked, Rowan nodded before shutting the door as Tai walked away. Rowan pulled the utility belt out from under his bed and began to change into his infiltration clothes.

* * *

Rowan parked the car in a parking garage a few blocks away from Wayne Tower, the skyscraper stood a proud ninety stories tall with a large 'W' on the front. Rowan had studied the layout and had a idea of how to get in without being detected, the elevators on the ground floor had a maintenance access door to the elevators that he could use to get up to the CEO offices and into the offices. He could imply wait until the receptionist leave for the night and slip in as they leave

However as he neared his intended entry point, he saw that the curving road leading around to the front doors had a number of security guards, _Crap. No way I'm getting in that way….ok let's think. Front is out…..what about side entrances? What about the garage?_ He thought to himself as he made his way past the doors, walking around the side of the building, he found the entrance to the underground garage, lowering his stance he approached the half wall on the ground above the entrance.

Looking over the ledge he saw a pair of guards on either all leading into the garage with the metal gates down, _Ok remember, patience is a big part of stealth. Wait for your moment._ He thought as he pulled his hoodie up over his head and tied the bandana around his face so he couldn't be identified. He waited for about ten minutes before he heard a vehicle pull up from the garage beneath him, looking down he saw a catering car pull to a stop to chat with the guards.

Hoisting himself over the ledge, he gripped the stone as he slowly lowered himself overtop the van before letting go and dropping. His feet hot the van and he landed in a crouch, he quickly stalked down to the rear of the Van and dropped off onto the concrete and rolled into the garage. He found cover behind a column as the gates came down and the guards went back to their positions.

Rowan looked around the garage, aside from a few cars it was vacant. He also saw the stairwell entrance on the fall wall, rushing towards the door, he slowed to a stop in front of it and turned the knob slowly. Slipping inside the stairwell he silently closed the door behind him. Digging into his pocet he pulled out his scroll, taking a small section of it off that was an earpiece and pressed it, "You there?" Rowan asked in a whisper.

 _'_ _I'm here. What's going on, are you in?'_ Bruce asked over the radio as the new knight walked to the middle of the stairwell and looked up.

"Yeah, stairwell leading into the garage. There's a bunch of guards on patrol, I think something's off." Rowan said as he reached on the rear of his belt and grabbed the grappling gun out of its holster and aimed it up the space between the stairs and fired with a silent puff of air. He was pulled up into the air by the grapnel, he went up twenty floors until he reached the end of his line that had caught the railing of the stairs.

 _'_ _The security isn't the same as at the Supply Depot. They're capable, so stay on your toes. You're on the twentieth floor, that stairwell only goes to eighty five. When you reach it, head for the executive elevator, it'll take you the rest of the way. I'll work on blocking security cameras from here.'_ Bruce advised as Rowan fired the grapnel gun again and ride it again. He repeated this action until he reached the top of the stairwell. Climbing over the railing he walked up to the door and creaked the door open to peek through the other side.

A guard walked by the door but didn't notice it open, the room was a reception area with the circular desk was propped against a wall with two large doorways on either side, on the other side of the wall was a half cylindrical see through elevator. There was four guards and not any real cover except for the desk, Rowan closed the door and tapped his finger to his ear, "Boss, it's me. There are four guards in the room, two in front of the elevator to the offices, one patrolling, and another guarding the lift down." He informed in a hushed voice.

 _'_ _Calm down and think. I can't do anything about the guards, you're on your own.'_ Bruce informed, making Rowan curse under his breath. The young man thought for a few moments, he couldn't fight these guards, he couldn't get caught after all, but maybe he could lure them away?

 _Fundamentals of stealth, distractions…..that's it!_ He thought as he retreated down the stairs to the floor below. Reaching the door, he opened it and saw that this floor was an office floor. It was perfect, and better yet there were no guards. Opening the door he walked through the room past the various desks and computers, hone hand going to his belt and dispensing a handful of gas pellets as he scanned the room for what he was looking for.

He found what he was looking for, a fire alarm. Slamming the bottom of his fist through the glass, the fire alarm blared. Rowan tossed smoke grenades throughout the room, and a few towards the door and elevator. Rushing back to the stairwell door, he waited until it burst open and the security guards from the floor above into the room. Slipping out the door as they rushed in, he quickly made his way up to the top floor. Before he closed the door to the top floor, he took a step back and threw his foot into the doorknob, breaking it off before closing it on the other side where the knob was.

Walking over to the elevator, he opened the doors and rode it the rest of the way up.

When the glass doors opened, he was at a hallway intersection, one ahead, and one to his sides. Turning right he headed for Coal Walter's and Sara Winter's offices where located, entering Colt's office first he looked around the room. It was bare bones, there was a desk against the wall to his right with the wall opposite of the door being all windows. Behind the desk the wall had a few mementos hanging on the wall, photos mostly but one of them had a certificate of some kind and another had a medal. Walking over to the desk, he pulled out a square shaped device with clamps on the back and a small bat symbol on the front.

Knelling under the desk, he found the tower for the computer under the desk, he placed the device on the bottom so it wouldn't easily be found even if it needed repair. _'The chip is accessing the hard drive now….he has a number of encrypted files. The bat computer will work on decrypting them for the time being. Get to Sara's office next. And hurry, the fire alarm you pulled was just deactivated, the guards might be on to you.'_ Wayne warned.

Rowan quickly made his way across the hall where Sara's office was, repeating what he did to Colt's computer, he was out the door to her office when the elevator at the end of the hall dinged.

As the security filed out, they came out of the elevator armed, pointing their guns down each hall, they saw nothing. "Room sweep. Check in in fifty seconds." The leader said, his three other men nodded as he stayed by the elevator as his men swept the rooms. The one security guard who took the right corridor entered Sara Winter's office, he checked behind the door first, he then noticed that the desk chair was pulled out. Slowly approaching the desk with his weapon raised, he stepped quickly behind the desk and aimed his gun at the space under the table. There was nothing there.

The four men checked the rooms and halls but found no sign of the intruder, regrouping outside the elevator the four loaded into the elevator, "We sweep the building floor by floor. Radio the security office, block all entrances and exits. No one leaves, understood?" the leader of the four asked before the doors shut.

Rowan let out a breath of relief. The new knight hung by the grapnel gun on the ceiling, he was grateful that no one really bothered to look up when searching. Dropping from the ceiling, he pressed his finger to his ear, "Boss we got a problem, they didn't see me but their suspicious. They're guarding every exit out of here, got any ideas?" he asked.

 _'_ _Head to my office.'_ Rowan ran down the hall opposite of the elevator to the set of double doors, opening them he entered the office. Looking around he was somewhat impressed, there was a fireplace on the all to his left with two bookshelves on either side, behind the desk was a glass wall with a set of doors leading out to a balcony, on the desk was a computer, a bust of a man who shared an appearance to Bruce, and a few photos. _'Out to the balcony.'_ Rowan walked past the desk and pushed the glass doors open.

Walking out to the ledge of the terrace he looked around, _'Now jump off the side,'_

Rowan blinked. _Wait what?_ "Could you repeat that boss because it sounded like you told me to jump off a ninety-story building." He said as he looked over the railing, seeing the cars on the road looking like ants.

 _'_ _I did, use the grapnel gun, it'll slow you're decent. But you need to swing around the building or the guards out front will spot you.'_ Bruce explained. Rowan exhaled a raggid breath, it was one thing using the suit, but all he had was a puny grapnel gun this time and nothing to save him if this didn't work.

He shook his head, _Batman isn't scared. He's brave…..be brave._ He thought before taking a few steps back before rushing towards the side and jumping off.

He fell like a stone, the wind rushed past his ears and tore the bandana off his face along with making his hood flap off. The ground was fast approaching, he gripped the grapnel tightly and aimed it to the corner of the skyscraper. Rowan firedthe line and it imbedded into the side of the building, he felt the line go taught, it gave out like but it was starting to already reel him in, slowing his decent and was soon being pulled up before he took his thumb off the retractor button and swung through the ar towards a roof, he yanked the grapnel free and rolled across the roof.

When he came to a stop, he rolled onto his back panting heavily, his heart was pounding nad his mind was racing, _'Bryce are you there? Report!'_ Bruce's voice brought him back to reality. He lifted his hand and tapped the communicator.

"I'm fine…..but I am never doing that again!" he shouted angrily before laying back down on the roof. He wanted to give himself a minute to recover before heading back to the car.

* * *

"So do we have a definitive answer?" Rowan asked, walking down the staircase to the cave with Ace beside him. The Dane had taking a liking to him quickly, Rowan instantly liked the dog too. He had wanted one like Zwei, but his father said that between the two of them no one could fully care for one.

There was no doubt that Ace could be quite vicious, however after Rowan brought some treats for him in the shape of spiraling dog bones, the canine had been friendly to him since.

Bruce was seated in front of the computer, on one of the screens the decryption software was busy unlocking files from Colt's hard drive, however the main screen was looking through Sara's already. "Nothing yet…however Sara's files have shed some light on some questions." He explained as he brought up a file, the picture was of the same green canister that Prat tried to sell to the Mutant Leader. "The compound breaks down anything that it comes into contact with, however depending on the mass it can take hours for the gas to kill. The only way to treat something like this was a concentrated green dust, it stabilizes the person so they don't decompose." He explained.

Rowan crossed his arms in contemplation, "So why did the Mutants want it? He said something about joining the big time but what does that mean?" he asked.

Bruce shook his head, "That's not the right question." He said, leaving it for Rowan to ask the right one.

The young man thought for a moment, "…..who's the one who set the deal up in the first place?" he asked, Bruce nodded. Rowan's eyes widened in realization, "And the better question is who is the one guy we now that we know for a fact has contacted this guy?" he asked, Bruce caught onto what he was saying and nodded in agreement.

"His trial is tomorrow. So that means he hasn't given the police anything otherwise they would have given him a deal. It also shows he's loyal." He pointed out, reaching over to the keyboard, he pressed a button, a section of the floor beside the computer lifted in the shape of a circle. Lifted from the ground was the Batsuit, inside a clear container like the ones in the Closet of Costumes, it was somewhat thinner, more his size. Rowan opened the case and began taking out the suit.

"I needed to readjust the size for you so it should fit well enough." Bruce explained as Rowan looked over the suit. "You should go tonight. After tomorrow he'll hopefully be on his way to a maximum security prison." He explained as he stood from his seat, "We only have a few hours of night left, so you should take this." He explained as Rowan fallowed him to the railing, his eyes went wide at what awaited him.

In the middle of the ground was a black colored, pod shaped vehicle, in its front where two 'arms that came out in an Y shape, the ends were sharp in shape like a knife blade. The sides had exposed metal that went up to the 'wings'. The rear had fins pointed back with a circular exhaust on the rear connected to the pod itself. There was a black tinted window in the body as well pointed out towards the front and back, walking down the steps he approached the vehicle from the side, the pod's top slid open revealing the interior.

Inside there was a single seat with two sideways handles on the sides of the interior with a keyboard in front, "….wit how does it go if there's no pedals?" he asked.

"Get changed, get in, and find out." Bruce said as he turned and made his way up the stairs and to the Batcomputer. Rowan changed into the suit and entered the Batmobile, the red illuminated interior didn't hurt his sense of placement thankfully and was able to easily move about without hitting anything.

Sitting down in the seat, he noticed that it was much roomier inside than he thought, under the seat was a drawer that was extended out to the side, putting his clothes inside it he pushed it closed before sitting in the comfortable seat. _'See the two handles on either side? Grab them.'_ Bruce instructed, Rowan grabbed them, slipping his fingers under the handles, the suit's hand matched the techno like pattern of the side, _'Twist the handle forward to accelerate and back to brake and reverse. Don't twist it fully, the suit will do the work for you.'_ Bruce explained, Rowan gently twisted forward.

The rear exhaust of the car lit up, the entire car began lifting off the ground before flying forward down the tunnel, inside the car, Rowan was grinning like a kid in a candy store, _'The handles control the wings, you go left you lower the left and rise the right, vice versa for right. Going up you pullback on both and down, you get the idea.'_ Bruce explained as the Batmobile flew out the exit to the cave, coming out the cliffside out to the sea, the vehicle turned towards the city of Vale.

"This. Is. Unbearably Cool!" Rowan whooped out as he caused the Batmobile to do a barrel roll through the air. Dipping down over the streets, a few pedestrians looked up in awe at the flying craft.

 _'_ _Keep the acrobatics to a minimum. You dent it, it comes out of your allowance.'_ Bruce warned as the Batmobile leveled out and drifted steadily through the air. _'The police are probably keeping the Mutant Leader in solitary confinement in Central.'_ He guessed, _'I'll direct you in, but you can't hurt him. People see him beaten, bruised, and broke, it'll show whoever's behind this we're onto them.'_

Rowan frowned but nodded in understanding, "You think either Sara or Colt would be there?" he asked, if the Mutant Leader was their last customer he thought it would be possible that they could be there to try and coax him so he doesn't give them up.

 _'_ _Only if they're stupid as he is. I already checked the defense attorney, he's a public defense, just what someone like the Mutant Leader would end up with.'_ Bruce explained, having taken a look into who was representing the criminal.

As the Batmobile flew off towards the station, there was a ringing in his ear. Like his phone ringtone, tapping his ear he answered the call, "Um, hello?" he asked.

 _'_ _Rowan! Thank dust, we just heard the news. Are you ok?'_ It was Yang on the other end, she sounded relieved.

The young man raised an eye as he flew the car around a building, "What are you talking about?" he asked curiously.

 _'_ _You haven't heard? There was this break in at your boss's work! Aren't you there?'_ the blonde asked over the phone as Rowan slowed the Batmobile's speed to a cruising speed as he reached for the console, the keyboard extended towards him as a holographic screen came on display. What came up was a screen that had a news channel on. It was a reporter talking about the break in at the Wayne Tower.

"I got a little sidetracked, Mr. Wayne asked me to pick up something on the way. I'll have to give him a call." Rowan lied, "Look Yang, I'm driving right now so I'll see you back home. Ok?" he asked, before Yang could respond however he hung up. He Sighed, "Man she is gonna strangle me for hanging up on her like that." He said as closed the and brought up the map of the city, seeing that he was getting close to the Station he grabbed the handles and slowed the craft to a stop. "Where should I land?"

 _'_ _You don't need to. On either side of the keyboard there are a number of buttons and switches, press the button closest to the keyboard on the left.'_ Rowan nodded and did as he instructed, the lights of the cabin dimmed slightly. _'Batmobile is in stealth mode, it'll be silent. No one will hear a peep out of it.'_ Bruce explained as the top of the car slid open. Peeking out, Rowan's eyes widened when he saw that the Batmobile itself was invisible!

"How the hell?" he asked, reaching out and touching the outside, he could still feel the vehicle but to the naked eye it wasn't there. Stepping out onto the top of the craft, he tapped the side of his mask beside his eyes, going through the various spectrums that the suit's visor allowed him to see in. Stopping on the ultraviolet setting, he saw that the Batmobile was still there just somehow hidden.

 _'_ _Back in my early days, I ran into a thief who used a plastic that was developed by a s scientist to bend light around him. It made him and whatever the plastic covered invisible.'_ Bruce explained, _'However at the time, the plastic had a nasty side effect. Over time it spreads toxins into the wearer. I managed to fix it, but to do so you need to run a more powerful electric current though it.'_

Batman deployed his wings as he looked over the side, down below was the police station. _'On the roof is a access door on the North side. That's your entry point.'_ The new knight leapt from the batmobile and glided down towards the roof of the police department, landing in front of the door he reached out to the knob and turned it. Walking down the steps, he pressed his finger to his ear. "So what's the deal with the car? I mean I heard the Batmobile was this long looking car with fins on the back or something." He explained as he stopped at the base of the steps.

 _'_ _Focus.'_ Bruce reprimanded. Rowan looked out from the corner of the doorway, he found himself in a small room with a old elevator shaft with a chain-like gate. _'Elevator shaft is your best way down without getting spotted.'_ Batman approached the gate and pulled out a Batarang, sticking the body of the projectile between the gate and the doorway of the shaft, he extended the side and twisted it enough so that the door retracted enough to slip his hands in between the space.

Pushing the gate open, he dropped down the shaft, extending his wings out with his feet pointed down so his weight pulled him down rather than glide into the wall of the elevator shaft. "Seriously though how did you even make that thing?!" Rowan asked in an excited whisper.

He didn't know it but Bruce was pinching the bridge of his nose, _'I used to have a man work at my company. He's actually responsible for the suit your wearing. Problem was it was so expensive there was no way we could hide it in the budget.'_ He explained, Bruce had explained that he afforded all he gadgets and other Bat related expenses he hid them within the budgets of Wayne Enterprises. He had seen the budgets for Batarangs, he was amazed that a number could go that high.

As he drifted down the vertical tunnel onto the top of the elevator on the second floor, raising his forearm he tapped the side, making a holographic screen and touch board appear. The screen showed a layout of the building, the floor below him was the bullpen area where most of the officers where. Below that was the lobby, and below that was the solitary confinement cells. "Alright what now? I'm not sure if trying to sneak through a floor full of police in a bat costume will go over well if they catch me." He explained.

 _'_ _Air vent to your right.'_ Bruce stated in an tired tone. Looking over, Rowan saw the vent as there, kneeling down he pushed the metal grate inward and slipped inside and walked through the cramped metal corridor before coming to a drop, sliding down with his hands and feet stopping him from outright falling by bracing against the sides on the tunnel. Halting just above an air duct, he waited a few minutes to make sure no one was close by before opening the vent and dropping onto the ground.

He was in a hallway, the walls were lined with heavy duty cell doors with a small slot on them that allowed to see the occupants inside. Above his head, gated lights lit the hall with the occasional flicker of one of them as Batman walked down the hall, _'He's in cell twenty six, end of the hall.'_ Bruce said, Rowan's hands clenched into fists. _'Your angry. Good, use it. But don't let it control you, remember, you hurt him and he will be back out on the streets. So keep it under control.'_ Bruce ordered.

Rowan nodded, "I know…besides, I'm looking forward to seeing the look on his face as he gets life." Rowan said with an almost sinister smile. However what he didn't know was back at the cave, Bruce had the kill switch primed for use.

Rowan approached the door that held the Mutant leader, beside the door was an electric number lock. The new knight raised his index finger, out from the tip came a dual pronged hacking device, plugging the two prongs into the ports at the base of the keyboard, the small screen quickly ran through every combination of numbers that fit in the five digit combo.

The screen flashed green before it clicked.

Inside the cell, the bandaged Mutant Leader laid on his bed, turning his head over to the door he saw it open, he squinted at the sudden . In the doorway was the shadow of the Batman, his silhouette blocking out the light from the hall. "Hi. Long time no see." Batman said menacingly as he stepped in, the voice was somewhat deepened by a voice filter so it was unrecognizable to anyone.

 _'_ _Keep the light behind you, make the shadows work to your advantage.'_ Bruce instructed as Rowan strode into the cell. The door was still open and the only source of light into the room.

"Wha-What you want Bat?" he asked as he sat up in his cot. Rowan strode forward, his shadow shrinking over the Mutant Leader but still covering his immediate vision, as he got closer however Rowan noticed something off about the 'mutant', Rowan had broken his arm and nose when they fought. But there were a number of other wounds on him, on his shoulder looked like a bite mark of a canine, his left arm had a number of bruises, and he hand a number of bandages around his forehead.

 _'_ _Guards must have given him a hard time…don't lose focus. You're not there to be sympathetic, your there to get answers.'_ Bruce reminded him, shaking Rowan from the thought process.

"You were buying weapons from someone at Wayne enterprises. And you're going to tell me who. Or I throw you ack to the guards who did this." Batman threatened, the Leader slightly trembling at the mention of the guards.

 _'_ _Nice touch adding the guards.'_ Bruce said.

"Look. Prat man? He the face of the big boss, he make the gear but he doesn't deal direct. Boss never made face to the meets." He said, making Batman grit his teeth as he loomed over him. If what he was saying was true then that meant that his only lead was dead, but he knew he couldn't hurt him more than he already was. Back at the Batcave, Bruce had his thumb hovering over the kill switch, ready to freeze Rowan in place as he went too far.

Rowan thought of something, "Tell me then. Who'd you hear about Prat from?" he asked, the leader might not know who was behind this but he wasn't the only buyer. It could be that one of them might know who the buyer is. The large criminal was silent for a moment, Rowan dispensed one of the batarangs, "I'm getting impatient." He growled out.

"Alright! Alright! There's this guy, calls himself Junior. He owns a club, he gave me the info." He explained, Batman backed off.

"Thanks. Have fun behind bars." Rowan said before slamming the door. As he walked down the hall he came from, he pressed his finger to his ear, "What do you think? Visit this Junior guy next?" he asked.

 _'_ _No. it'll be dawn soon. You need to get home, Junior can wait.'_ Bruce said, Batman pulled his finger away from his ear before boosting up to the ceiling where the open vent was. Bruce was right, it was time to get home.

* * *

Rowan woke up to the sound of his alarm going off, he pulled the pillow out from beneath his head and put it over his face. _Ugggghhhhhh. I barely slept five hours! How the hell did Wayne do this for years and not go insa…never mind._ He thought as he sat up and reached for his scroll and turning off the alarm. Throwing the covers off himself, Rowan stretched his arms over his head before he did the same with his legs, he then fell forward like a plant before stopping himself from face planting with his hands.

He started his routine with thirty push-ups, then to as many sit-ups, then went onto crunches. It was hard work of course but it was necessary in order to keep his strength up. After about twenty minutes, he stood up with sweat on his brow and a dire need for food and drink. Exiting his room, he walked down the hall and stairs.

Walking across the living room, he entered the kitchen and made his way to the fridge. As he opened it up he heard a pair of feet shuffle into the room, "Rowan….milk….now." Ruby said in a tired voice. Looking over the door he saw Ruby at the table in her Pajamas with her Grim bedtime mask covering one eye as the other was clearly waking up.

"Got it Rubes." He answered as he got put a jug of milk and the carton of eggs, setting the milk down at the table he walked over to the blender as Yang walked in with a large smile on her face.

"Good morning baby sister and best friend!" she said, giving her younger sister a hug. Yang was by no means a morning person, in fact she downright hated them. But there was once in a while when she woke up just right and woke up happy.

The same could not be said for Ruby, "Get off me. I need my fuel. I need cereal." She said as she poured a bowl of Pumpkin Pete's. Before either could say another word, the sound of the blender made both of the sisters cover their ears and bite down, the loud sound not being at all welcome at this hour. Looking over they saw Rowan with a few eggshells on the counter and the blender, letting the eggs swirl for a minute, he stopped the blender and took the cup off the base before gulping down the protein filled mush down his throat.

Wiping his chin with the back of his hand, he looked over to both the girls staring at him, "What?" he asked.

"….did you just drink an egg?" Ruby asked, "You don't drink eggs, you…..you eat them. But you didn't…..you drank them….why would you do that?" Ruby asked, having never seen anyone actually drink an egg before.

Yang nodded, "Yeah you drink eggs…..but I'll give you manly points for gulping it in one go." She complimented, giving him a thumbs up as Rowan cleaned up the eggs and container.

"It's a new diet I'm doing. More protein, more muscle." He said before his scroll vibrated in his pocket, pulling it out he saw it was Bruce. He held the phone up, "Boss, I got to take it." He explained as he walked into the living room so he could talk I private, as he left however, Yang frowned before sitting at the table with her sister.

"What's up?" Ruby asked, noticing her sister's frown.

Yang shook her head, "Does Rowan seem…..different to you?" she asked.

Ruby shrugged with a somber look, "I mean he just lost his dad…..I'm pretty sure anyone would be different after that." She said, making Yang nod in agreement. She didn't seem comforted by the affirmation however, "But that just eans we got to be there for him. Right?" she asked with a smile, making Yang grow one as well before reaching over and ruffle her hair.

"Right." she affirmed before hearing the TV turn on in the other room.

Ruby grabbed her bowl, "Now if you will excuse me dear sister, I shall go to the living room for Saturday morning television." She said with a false dignity as she stood up. Yang rolled her eyes, she knew her sister just meant cartoons. Fallowing her sister into the living room, she nearly bumped into Ruby who was standing still in the doorway, looking over Ruby she saw Rowan staring at the Television, a look of anger, and determination on his face. She was about to question why until she heard the TV.

 _'_ _-found dead this morning, the Mutant Leader was scheduled for court today. Sources are scare as to his cause of death, the Vale Police Department has stated that the prisoner was in perfect health in the days prior-'_ the reporter was cut off as Rowan switched off the TV.

The sister looked at him with sympathy, "Rowan….I'm sorry." Ruby said sadly, knowing that he had decided to go to the trail.

"Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy." Rowan muttered, making both the girls' eyes widen.

"Rowan!" Yang berated, making his eyes widen when he realized he had said that aloud in front of the two. Ruby looked taken aback, but not entirely surprised, Yang on the other hand looked a little appalled.

He raised his hands, "Hey, the guy was responsible for how much pain and suffering aside from having my dad killed? Excuse me for not shedding a tear." He said, Yang's angered eyes softened as she came to realize that he wasn't entirely wrong. The new knight however also realized that his words were harsh, "Look I'm just peeved didn't get to see him get justice…. I'm sorry." He apologized as he turned towards the stairs, "I got to head into Wayne's later but I'll see you guys after school. Ok?" he asked.

The two sisters both nodded in understanding, "You know it's Saturday, right?" Ruby asked, making Yang snicker as Rowan froze for a second before continuing up the stairs.

However, what also was on the young man's mind was the report, the leader was not in perfect health last night. So that meant possibly two things. The news was lying, or that the Mutant Leader's death was the Police's fault.

 _If whoever's behind this has a hand in the police…. then we might have a problem…. but Batman might be able to fix that._

 **AN: Sorry I haven't updated this in a while guys, along with the desire to update my other stories as well…. a family member passed away. They had been sick for the past month with an incurable disease and…. they passed away peacefully and I could say my goodbyes the night before they didn't wake up.**

 **While this is sad, I want to say that I'm doing fine. I've grieved with my other family members and they're here for me as I'm here for them. What matters is they're in a better place now, and they won't suffer any longer.**

 **And oddly enough, I've been watching the old Batman cartoons and….it helps for some weird reason. But writing has been a huge help as well, and it shows that this can be done for more than simple fun.**

 **Now that that sad stuff is out of the way, I want to clarify a few things. The Batmobile I described is basically the one in the show, I just cannot for the life of me find a straightforward way to describe how it looks.**

 **And no, the suit does not have the cloak function. I understand why Bruce had it in the series along with the strength augmentation due to his age but given how Batman is also A MASTER OF STEALTH, I don't see why he would have it.**

 **Also, for all you Batman TAS fans, the invisible plastic I mentioned is from an actual episode from the first season called 'See No Evil'. And when you think about it might be the backstory as to the cloaking tech in the first place.**

 **Until next time everyone!**


	4. Chapter 4: A Tangled Web We Weave

**A Tangled Web We Weave**

The music in Junior Xiong's club was loud, the club itself had a large open layout to it, the dance floor was situated in the center with the floor with pillars of glass spread on the sides of the lit up floor, overhead here were spotlights pointed at multiple angles on a circular ring that spun around like a top, in the center of the ring was a holographic projector that could show aesthetics like snowfall or leaves. On the either side there was stairs that circled around the club that had sitting areas, on the right wall at the ground floor was a bar that stretched from end to end, the shelves behind where clear glass with various drinks on them.

Junior himself was as the bar with both hands on the table one of them drumming it's fingers against the countertop. Junior Xiong was an adult man, his name might have implied otherwise, with a thick black beard and squared shaped hair, he wore a formal white dress shirt with a red tie and black pants, vest, and gloves. On either side of him walked up a girl, both identical save for their outfits, one having a red dress with a skirt like Ruby had and the other with a white dress in the same fashion, "Someone's here to see you." The one in red said.

"Said the Mutant boys told him about you." The twin in white added, Junior looked to each of them before giving a nod. The girls walked through the club to the front entrance where a man was leaning up against the railing that lead up to the front doors, he had chestnut brown hair that was parted over to the side, he had a fair skin tone but the small cut shaped scar across his right cheek. He had a thin mustache on his upper lip with a five o'clock shadow on his chin and sides, his emerald colored eyes stared at the girls as they approached him.

"He'll see you now." The one in white, Melanie, said.

"But don't waste his time." The one in red, Miltia, added before they both led the man through the club. The Man wore a brown leather jacket over a grey shirt with a pair of worn jeans and cowboy boots, on his jacket was a patch with a fire with a crossed out circle around it. Fallowing the twins to the bar, the man caught sight of junior at the bar.

Junior turned to him with his arms crossed, "You the one who made the appointment?" he asked.

The man nodded as he raised his hand, "Mordin Malone." He introduced, Junior shook his hand as a sign of respect, but the grip was strong, trying to exert his power over him.

Junior nodded, "Junior. You wanted to talk about some merch?" he asked as the two men took a seat at the bar, Mordin nodded, "I got to say when I heard that a Malone was in town, I thought it was-"

"Matches? Yeah, my old man. Least that's what mom said his name was." Mordin said as he turned in his stool to face Junior, "Apples and trees right? Anyway, before the big guy got locked up, I met two guys, Rob and Bob." Mordin explained as Junior poured himself a glass of alcohol he poured one for Mordin as well. The club owner handed him the cup, Mordin took it without hesitation and drank it halfway, "You'll probably remember them as the two idiots with their names on their shirts." He added.

Junior chuckled at that, "I thought they were pulling my leg first time I met 'em, maybe they had each other's name. But no…..what happened to them anyway after the Leader got jailed?" the club owner asked before taking a sip of his drink. The gang had been effectively killed with the leader jailed, and buried when he had died, they had tried to recover but it was impossible without the right leadership.

"Last I heard they got pinched trying to stick up a gas station. Lucky too, owner had a shotgun under the counter." Mordin added with a smirk, making Junior laugh. "But down to business. I know that something went down with the leader, something with chem weapons. Nasty shit." He explained, making Junior nod. Mordin put a hand to his chest, "I don't need anything that big, I just want something that can get my foot into a few doors. Show I got connections to the right people."

That got Junior's attention, "Really? Where at?"

"Mistral. I got a few contacts there, they need something big for a job they're working." Mordin explained.

Junior raised an eye, "What job?"

Mordin shook his head, "Look, I'm here to find what they're looking for, but I can't tell you. Less you know the better." He explained, the details of the job was on a need to know, and if what the rumor about Junior wasn't true than he couldn't know more. Junior seemed to consider the offer for a few minutes before Mordin spoke, "Look I'll sweeten the pot. The guys running the job? They need a few extra bodies, I know you got a thing for renting your men out. You get me what I'm looking for, I'll spread word back in Mistral about your business. I got a man in transport, doesn't ask questions and takes cash." He explained.

Junior seemed to think this deal over for a minute before reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a notebook and pen. "There was something recently that threw a wrench in our operation. But as soon as it gets up and moving again I'll give you a call." He said as he slid his notebook and pen across the counter to the criminal, Mordin jolted down his number in the notebook and gave it back to the club owner. "Alright, I'll call you once things get into place." He explained.

Mordin nodded before raising his hand, "Hopefully it's soon. Until then." He said before Junior shook his hand and standing up from his stool and walking towards the door.

As Mordin exited the club, he walked a few blocks and then turned down an alleyway before reaching up to his face and pulling the fake mustache off before removing the hair and contact lenses. Rowan coughed a little as he tapped the communicator in his ear, "Hey you there boss?" he asked as his voice adjusted back to his own.

Rowan and Bruce had been working on his 'Mordin Malone' persona for the past week before he went out on his patrols around the city. He practiced everything from his ordinary tendencies to how he would do business with criminals, the hardest part was getting the look down so that he looked like an actual relative to Matches Malone, a persona Bruce himself had come up with.

 _'_ _I'm here. How did it go?'_ Bruce asked as Rowan continued down the alley as he put the fake hair and mustache in his pockets. Licking his thumb he rubbed off the fake scar on his cheek.

"Just like you thought, the fake connections worked out. He'll call Malone's cell when he organizes something with the guy behind all this. So now we wait until we hear from him right?" Rowan asked, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his scroll, the young man pressed a command into the screen with the Bat symbol on it, at the end of the alleyway in front of him, the Batmobile made itself visible. The roof slid back allowing Rowan to hop into the vehicle and change out of his disguise and into his Batsuit underneath his clothes.

 _'_ _Unless we see anything suspicious happen with Colt and Sara, yes. Now Get back to work.'_ Bruce ordered as Rowan put the clothes into the compartment under his seat. Pulling his mask and gloves on, he grabbed the handles and turned them forward and pulled them back towards him.

The batmobile lifted off into the air and flew through the city, when it reached a high enough altitude, Rowan took his hands off the handles and reached up to the visor where a few buttons where, pressing a few of them, the floor of the craft opened up in front of his seat. Rowan dropped from the underside of the aircraft, extending his wings out he glided over the buildings of the city.

The cowl was equipped with a radio receiver that could pick up on police broadband, _'Attention all units we have a 10-16, domestic disturbance at thirteenth and main, tenement building fourth floor. Victim has barricaded themselves in room. Please advise.'_ The dispatch operator said over in the cowl. Rowan turned in midair towards the aforementioned building, the hero folded his wings back to fly down towards the third floor window, extending his wings out he raised his feet up against the windowsill.

"Open the damn door! I'm talking to you bitch!" Looking in the window, Rowan saw a large man with a steel bat in hand banging on the door to the apartment, he was angry and the whimpering from the other side of the door showed he was not welcome. Batman slid the window open and slipped behind him, "Open the damn door before I break it down!" he threatened as he pulled the bat back and readied to strike the door, however he felt someone grab it.

Suddenly the bottom of the bat slammed into the side of his face knocking him to the floor, "Mind your own business your the Bat-" he started before he saw who had hit him, "Y-y-you're-" the top of the bat jabbed him in the forehead, knocking him out. A few minutes passed before the door cracked open, out stepped a middle aged woman, she had a bad bruise on her cheek. Looking to her right she saw the man who was banging on her door, trying to get to her, out could and toed up in black cables.

Blocks away, Batman boosted through the air with the jets on his heels. Flying over a bank, he noticed a light coming from inside through the front doors. The new knight landed in front of the bank, the steel slider doors had a hole cut out, the edges were still glowing red and was probably hot to the touch. Stepping through the hole in the gate, he walked through the foyer of the bank, creeping over to the doorway leading into the bank floor, the gate leading behind the teller's window was open and like the door the lock was melted.

Walking through the gate, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching, taking cover behind a pillar, he saw a set of double doors on the wall directly behind the teller booth. Out stepped two men wearing hoodies with black masks, on their masks were crudely painted green skulls on them, they were both armed with shotguns. "I swear I heard something." One of them said as they raised their gun and scanned the room with it.

Batman felt a pair of batarangs slide into his hand, "Psst. Hey." Batman whispered at the pair, they turned as he threw the batarangs, knocking the guns from their hands before he threw his knee into one of the them, the other thug tried to punch the bat but Rowan blocked it with his forearm and countered with a palm strike to the chin as he kicked the one he had attacked first into another column.

He then grabbed the one who attacked him and judo threw him into his ally. The two scrambled onto their feet as Batman approached them, one of them saw their guns and reached for the shotgun, rising his fist he fired a pair of red discs at the pair they struck one of them in their hood and pinned them against the column while the other hit the ground between the man's hand and the weapon.

The thug retracted his hand out of fear as he yelped, he was lifted up by the scruff of his hoodie and was slammed against the other side of the column his friend was pinned to. "Alright, since you both have shotguns, where's the third guy with the blowtorch?" he asked.

"Right here freak!" Batman turned his head to see man in identical clothing with a large blowtorch in his hands. Turning his body around the column as he fired the flamethrower, he pulled the thug in his grasp with him, saving him from being burned alive.

"You two stay put." Batman ordered before using his rocket boots to launch himself back, getting some distance between him and the man wielding the flamethrower. He got a better look at his opponent, the flamethrower was shaped like a rifle with the canisters in the stock itself. The batsuit was fireproof but Rowan was more concerned about the thugs, he obviously didn't care about his friends.

"I thought the big bad Batman wasn't afraid of little fire?" he asked as he raised the flamethrower and spewed the fire out the end towards the vigilante. Rowan dove directly through the fire at the gunman, his eyes widened in surprise as Batman burst through the flames and struck his across his jaw with one hand as he grabbed the flamethrower with the other.

Pointing the weapon down at the ground it spewed out more flames before Batman headbutted the thug, knocking him onto his back. As he started to stand up, he was pinned back against the ground with a foot to his chest, "I'm not. But you should be." He said, using his hand to make the thug look at the fire that was shot into the ground. As he was distracted, Batman's fist pounded him into the ground, cracking the floor slightly.

The vigilante looked over to the pair he had pinned against the pillar to see only the one remaining, "Shit." The man grabbed the disc and managed to yank himself free, only to have a batarang pin him back against the pillar. He turned to see the Batman stalking towards him, "So where'd your friend run off to?" he asked, the sounds of sirens in the distance drawing both their attention. The thug turned back to the new knight to see he had seemingly vanished into thin air as the police pulled to a stop outside the bank.

The police entered with their handguns raised, sweeping through the bank floor, they found one of the thieves on the ground by an extinguished fire and the other pinned to a column, pinned by a strange looking bladed projectile. A few minutes later there was an entire team of CSI along with the on site officers.

"And this guy, this….bat guy, dove through the fire and knocked your partner down?" the officer said as he wrote down the statement in his notepad, the thug who was pinned against the wall was seated in an office chair with his hands cuffed behind him and his mask off.

The thug was quiet, the officer sighed in response to the silence. He hadn't said a thing. All that they had was a security feed from one of the cameras, but the quality was blurry and they only had one clear shot of a shadowy figure with pointy ears. The two thieves had been completely silent.

"I miss the days when they didn't think about lawyers and started talking to try and blame someone else." The police officer turned to the female voice and immediately straightened himself up, the woman was middle aged, she had red hair with a bit of grey in it that went down past her shoulders. She had a pair of glasses over her blue eyes, she had a earthy brown trench coat covering her white dress shirt on black pants which had her badge on it. She also had dark grey pants with black heeled shoes.

"C-Commissioner Gordon!" the man sputtered as he stood at attention.

"Ease up kid, now what were you saying about a bat guy?" she asked as she walked over, glancing over at the thief.

The patrolman whistled over to one f the CSI's before speaking, "Well security cam caught this dark figure, we can't make out how this guy exactly looks but he had these long ears. So he could be a Faunus….but then there's this." He explained as the CSI handed him a evidence bag. The commissioner's eyes widened when she saw the Batarang before her eyes widened, right before a small smile tugged at her lips. "What do you think ma'am?" the patrolman asked as the Commissioner picked up the plastic bag.

"I think things are going to get interesting patrolman."

* * *

"We should have known that the Mutant Leader's death would have created a power vacuum." Bruce said, staring at the images captured from the vid link to the cowl. The pictures where of the thieves at the bank, Rowan had stopped a number of other crimes before returning to the cave. The new knight himself was busy sparing against the robots on the floor below where the Batmobile was usually parked. As he worked, the canine at his side looked up the stairs to the clock door.

Rowan caught a kicked aimed at his chest, sweeping his leg out he knocked the robot down and slammed his knee onto the head of the robot. "So what now? Third guy got away and the other two probably won't say a thing to the police. So what do we do?" he asked as he stood and blocked a few attack from another one of the robots before spin kicking the bot away.

Rowan rolled his shoulders as he deactivated the robots, walking up the steps to the computer he continued, "And what do we call these guys? I mean there was the Mutants, then there's the Torchwick guys….though that's not exactly a gang name." he muttered as he realized that wasn't a proper name for a group of people. As he reached the next level, he stopped when he saw that Bruce and Ace weren't the only one there. Standing in the middle of the cave was a middle aged woman with red hair who was staring Bruce down.

Rowan had a good idea of who she was, so he knew it was fruitless to try and hide from her. However he was somewhat relieved when Ace walked over to the woman who smiled before rubbing him behind the ears, "How you doing boy?" she asked in a friendly tone before looking back up at Bruce, "He keeping you out of trouble?" she asked the former dark knight.

Rowan swore he saw Bruce's lips nearly curl into a real smile, before it returned to it's stoic default and looked over to him. "Rowan, front and center." He said, the young man let out a small sigh before walking over to the pair, "Barbra, Rowan Bryce. Rowan, Barbra Gordon."

The woman quirked a brow upon seeing the young man, "He's a little young."

"Standing right here." Rowan said bluntly. Bruce glared at him as Barbra smirked, "Sorry."

The commissioner actually chuckled, "Don't be. Last thing the cave needs is to be full of brooding people." She said, making the young man feel somewhat relieved while Bruce turned his attention towards the computer screen with Barbra, "These guys haven't said a word, either they really don't know anything, they're too loyal to say anything, or they're too scared to say anything. I'm leaning more towards three, none of them have even call for a lawyer." She explained, looking over the trio of men on screen. "We have ID's on these two, but we'll have them arrested and jailed in no time."

Rowan looked over a Bruce who gave him a short nod, "About that…it might not be the best idea." He started. He went on to explain their investigation into Wayne Enterprises' board members. How it led from his father's investigation to Prat to someone high enough in company to cover it up entirely, how the Mutant Leader was responsible for his father's death and was apparently beaten before death.

Barbra gritted her teeth, "Shit…..I've had a few suspicions about some people booking over the past year but this means they must have someone in the Medical Examiner's office if they can fabricate a report like that." She growled out before looking over to Bruce, "I can't keep them, I'll find the ones who carried out the order to kill but until then…." A sly smirk appeared on her face, "I guess I'll have to let them go…..I haven't charged them with anything yet." She explained.

Rowan caught on and smiled, "You want me to tail them back to their boss don't you?" he asked, thinking that if the pair were released, then they would most likely find their boss.

The commissioner shrugged, "I wouldn't suggest that….but I'm also not saying that's what could happen." She said as she turned towards the stairs and began up the steps, "Rowan, walk me to my car. We need to talk." Rowan looked at Bruce who nodded, the new knight fallowed after Barbra up the stairs. Fallowing her through the grandfather clock door, she spoke up once they were out of Bruce's hearing range. "Why are you doing this kid?" she asked bluntly.

Rowan was somewhat thrown off by the question, "What do you mean?"

"I mean are you doing this because it's fun? Are you doing this because you feel you owe Bruce? Because I can tell you right now that if it's either of those things, you need to give this up right now." She stated bluntly as she turned her head to look at him, her friendly demeanor gone, it's it place was a dead serious tone with her eyes baring into him.

Rowan locked eyes with her before shaking his head, "No. I'm not doing this for shits and giggles." He replied as they entered the foyer and walked towards the door. Barbra still stared at him expectantly, waiting for his explanation. "I'm doing this because someone has to." He said simply, "If there was someone else being Batman, then maybe my dad wouldn't have been killed…..and knowing I can do something about that….knowing I can make sure that doesn't happen to someone else…that's why I'm doing this." He explained before looking over at Barbra,

The redhead however looked somewhat saddened by that answer, she looked to the front doors as she opened them, "When I joined….it was all fun and games….but before long I saw the hard truth. Every time we put those costumes on, we put targets on our chests. It doesn't mean they'll hit a bullseye…the ones close to us sometimes get hit." she explained as she walked out the door. She turned back to and spoke, "This isn't job…..it's a mission. That means it's a commitment. You need to realize that." She said before exiting the manor and shutting the door behind her, leaving Rowan in the foyer alone.

He pressed his lips together as the Commissioner's words sunk in, he had looked at this like a job but Barbra was right. Bruce was treating him like a soldier, training him like one too. The workout drills, learning his equipment inside and out, but he also saw it as necessary, he didn't have aura or semblance like Huntsmen and Huntresses, he had to learn this way. He turned back towards the doorway leading to the study, he had a day until he had to track two thugs down.

* * *

Rowan brushed his teeth with all the enthusiasm he could muster, and after having only three hours of sleep that didn't surmount to much if any. The knock at the door of the bathroom made him spit into the mirror, "Come on! Hurry up in there! Yang doesn't take this long!" Ruby's voice called out from the other side as Rowan grabbed a rag and washed the glass clean of the toothpaste, making sure he cleaned his mess he unlocked and opened the door, Ruby all but threw him out before heading inside.

Rowan rubbed the sand from his eyes as he leaned against the wall beside the door, Bruce had assured him that three hours of sleep was all he needed with the right training. The problem was that it wasn't exactly an instant adjustment, it required weeks to adjust to and until he did he had to deal with the tolls of lack of sleep. But Bruce explained that he could take short naps throughout the day to counteract the effects until his sleep schedule set in.

As the young man walked down the hall, he nearly tripped down the stairs before grabbing the railing to stop him, "Oh my god are you ok?" Yang asked, seeing him nearly take a tumble down the steps from the couch, Rowan managed to get down the steps without any trouble. Crashing onto the couch beside Yang, he let out a yawn. "You really need to talk to your boss about the late hours. He does know you need to sleep right?" Yang asked.

Rowan shook his head to wake himself up some more, "It's ok Yang, I just need a nap and I'll be fine." He said reassuringly as he laid his head back on the couch and put his feet up on the table, Yang however reached over and grabbed his legs and swung them so they were resting in her lap and his head was on a pillow. "Thanks Yang, you're the best." He said, making her smile.

"Your surprised?" she asked jokingly as she turned on the TV projector as Ruby walked down the steps, having finished morning hygienic routine, and plopped at the foot of the couch in front of Yang while the News came on. As Rowan began to drift off into a nap, the newswoman, Lisa Lavender, came on the TV set.

 _'_ _-and with that the most shocking news of the day is the rumored return of the vigilante known as The Batman.'_ The newscaster said, making Rowan's eyes shoot open and sit up wide awake as Yang and Ruby. Looking over to the girls, he saw that Yang had an excited look in her eyes at the news while Ruby was shaking with excitement and a large grin on her face. _'Multiple victims of crimes have reported seeing a dark figure with long ears and wings swooping down from the night sky and dispatching with the victim's attacker's.'_ the reporter explained before the broadcast began showing various people Rowan had saved.

He recognized the couple he had saved from being robbed, the girl whom he saved from a rape two nights ago, and the drunkard he had stopped the night prior, all telling tales of him. If he was being honest? It brought a strange sense of pride to him, knowing that he had saved these people made it seem like what he was doing was worthwhile. "This…..is….AWESOME!" Ruby exclaimed as she shot her arms up and her feet out, 'Batman is back! I can't believe it! Oh do you think he still uses Batarangs? Oh! Do you think he needs a sidekick? I have the cape, but I'm not sold on the tights, and would I be Batgirl or would I be Robin. I mean they're both cool." Ruby said as she went off on a tangent.

Yang put her hand on top of Ruby's head like stopping an alarm clock, "Easy there little sister, first off only I can pull off tight in this family. And second, it's just a rumor, you know like that one about a Faunus who had ears and a tail?" she asked, making Ruby cross her arms and pout slightly as Yang lightly ruffled her hair. "Come on we need to get ready for school." She said as she sat up from the couch and walked to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat.

Rowan sighed as he re-adjusted so that he was comfortable. Bruce had told him about his year one as Batman, the police considered him a dangerous outlaw who at first was thought to be nothing more than an urban legend. Eventually he was revealed to the public through a confrontation with a reckless swat team during the morning, hopefully it wouldn't come to that for Rowan but if the story taught him one thing, it's that not all police are on the up and up. As Rowan watched the TV set, Ruby and Yang bade him fair well before leaving for school.

After they left, Rowan found that sleep wouldn't come to him despite how tired he felt after half an hour of trying to rest. Standing from the couch, he ascended the stairs and waked to his room, closing it behind him he reached under his bed and grabbed the batsuit. He had washed the charring off it when he arrived at the Batcave, Bruce had also told him he'd contact him when Barbra got back to him about the two goons he apprehended the night prior.

Rowan looked over the suit before putting it into his bag beside the bed and taking out some books he picked up from the public library about aura and semblances. Bruce's training was shaping his body and mind, but he was hoping that he could forge his spirit as well, his research so far had shown him that Aura was unlocked differently for everyone, and there was many variations to what Semblances were capable of doing and how they operated.

Some were passive in nature, like being able to increase endurance beyond what was considered normal. And others were more active, like Yang's and Ruby's, and some where a sort of double edged swords, while they helped they could also hurt the user. He also learned that somewhere passed down to children like the famous Schnee line semblance of glyphs.

Hopefully his would be something useful, _What good is a semblance if it doesn't even work when I need it? Like what if it only works in the day time?_ He thought to himself rhetorically as he flipped through the pages of the book. "Maybe I could ask Ruby or Yang to unlock it for me? Ehhh could be dangerous, they could see into my Aura….could see what I've been doing." he muttered. Bruce would probably, and literally, skin him alive if he blabbed to Yang or Ruby about is real job.

Rowan sat on the floor beside his bed and began reading through the book, "Maybe I'll fall asleep if I read myself to exhaustion?" he mused as he thumbed through to the page he left off on.

* * *

After reading through the rest of the book, Rowan had gotten a message from Bruce about the two thugs who were set to be released tonight. As the sun began set on the horizon, Rowan looked over the side of the rooftop across the street from the Police Precinct. The mask had telescopic lenses in the eyes, and along with the fingertip microphones he could listen in to them when he saw them.

"I see Bruce taught you it's never too early." Rowan turned around to see Barbra, he nearly jumped at her voice though. She smirked when she saw his white eyes widen, "Don't worry, after a while that little trick will come natural." She said, referring to the appearing and disappearing act. The commissioner walked beside him and looked down to the front of the building, "They should be getting out any second. We also found out something interesting, the bank's vault was in the basement but they were heading towards where the safety deposit boxes are stored in." she explained.

Rowan raised an eye, "So they were after something specific…..has anyone tried to withdraw anything from their box?" he asked.

Barbra smirked, "Good guess kid. But no, not yet anyway. But I got some officers staking out the bank and keeping eyes out." She explained, looking down at the front doors to the building. "One of them called their lawyer, the other one called someone else. So they're expected back, so don't attack them until they get there." Barbra cautioned as the pair of robbers exited the police station.

The commissioner and new knight watched as they walked to the end of the street and around the corner where a car was parked. Rowan zoomed his vision in on the driver, "Might be the third robber…..though they didn't exactly all get along." He muttered as he pointed the fingertip mics to the car to listen in.

 _'_ _-are you doing here?! If I known he was with you…..you should take a cab before I decide to burn you!'_ One of the men spat out angrily to another. Batman thought back to the one with the flamethrower nearly burned one of the others to a crisp if he hadn't saved them.

 _'_ _Well I saw a freaky looking thing with pointy ears first! I thought 'kill it with fire' was something you do in that situation!'_ the other shouted back as the car started. Rowan dug into one of the bet compartments and pulled out a small tracking device about the size of his palm, it was bat shaped with small rotors in the wings. The HUD of his cowl was focused on the car, a target reticle appeared on the car and the tracker took off from his hand and flew down to the car and swooped under the car as it turned a corner and attached to the underside of the car.

"I'll fallow them, and I'll call if I find anything." Rowan said to the former Batgirl as he turned towards the center of the rooftop, hitting a button on his gauntlet the Batmobile shimmered into existence before them. Jumping into the cockpit, the roof closed over Batman as the vehicle began to take off and fly up into the air away from Barbra.

"….I'll admit it, I miss the gear." She muttered to herself aloud upon seeing the new tech that Bruce had developed.

Meanwhile. Batman flew high above the rooftops of Vale as the Batmobile flew after the car automatically, inside the aircraft, Rowan looked at the screen with Bruce on it. "Is there any way we can find out what they were trying to steal from the lock boxes? Don't they keep records of what their customers put in?" he asked the detective.

Bruce shook his head on the monitor, _'No, discretion policy prevents anything of the sort. However I did find something interesting.'_ Bruce explained as he pulled up a file and put it next to him on the screen. _'The bank's clientele is private knowledge, but a last summer, Waynetech installed security features in the bank. But they were never tripped.'_ He explained, making Rowan's eyes widen.

"You think this is connected to our board members?" he asked.

 _'_ _I think it's not a coincidence that these two bit robbers were able to bypass a high level security system without any alarms going off. And this is right after we shut down illegal arms dealing originating from Wayne Industries….pull off the thugs for now and check the bank. You can find out what they know later.'_ Bruce said decisively.

Batman tilted the Batmobile and looked down at the car, "Are you sure? I could hit them now, all three of them are together and –"

 _'_ _Just do it!'_ Bruce ordered, making Rowan wince before turning the Batmobile towards the bank.

"Ok, ok, sheesh." He said, backing off as he diverted his course towards the bank as the car drove off in the opposite direction.

* * *

Rowan arrived at the bank after the sun set. Gliding through the night sky, he flew over the street and onto the roof of the Bank. It was still closed with Policemen stationed out front, the glass dome looking over the lobby three stories below was his entry point. Opening one of the windows, he tapped the side of his mask beside his eye and turned on the infrared vision, allowing him to see the security lasers. They crisscrossed in various locations so it would be impossible to drop directly down into the room, thankfully using his wings, he floated down towards the floor, reaching his arms up to make sure his wings didn't trip the alarm.

Landing on the ground, he looked towards where the entrance was and the cops were stationed. Sneaking behind the bank teller's counter he made his way through the pair of double doors and down the hall to where the lock boxes where located. Walking up the locked door, he extended the code breaker from his one fingertip and used it to decode the lock. Opening the door, he walked inside the room containing the safety deposit boxes.

The walls were lined with boxes, and two columns in the center of the rom held even more, "Perfect. How the hell am I going to….wait. The perps weren't wearing gloves….which means they had fingerprints on whatever lockboxes they were looking for." He said to himself as he raised his arm and brought up the holographic pad on his bracer. Activating the scanner on his fingertips, red lines went up the inner length of his fingers and circled at the face of his fingers. Holding them up to the doors of the boxes, he scanned for any recent fingerprints, it took about ten minutes but he eventually he found the lock box with recent prints that matched one of them arrested.

Pulling out a lock pick, he inserted the tool into the keyhole and let the device do it's job, Bruce was teaching him how to pick locks by hand but until then this was how he did it. The lock clicked and he opened the compartment, pulling out a long box, he set it down on the ground and opened it up. Inside the box was a phone and a open envelope with a paper inside, taking both items out of the box he put each of them in compartments on his belt.

A light suddenly shined on him, "How shit! He's real!" Rowan turned his head to see the two cops from out front with their weapons aimed at him. He reached for his belt as they fired, he leapt back as he threw a smoke pellet at the pair, one of the shots hitting his right pectoral beside the red bat on his chest. Rowan hissed in pain as he landed on his feet and ran through the smoke past the cops and made a B line for the door.

Bursting through the double doors, he saw that the two policemen guarding the bank had called in backup. Six officers were in the lobby, "It's the bat! Waste him!" one of them shouted before opening fire, Rowan dove behind a column for cover as the cops opened fire, most of their rounds hitting the bulletproof glass.

 _Well isn't this familiar? Ok think, I got maybe a minute before the two in the vault recover and pin me in. Don't panic….Bruce walked you through a situation like this._ He thought to himself as he reached for his belt and pulled off a square shaped device, it unfolded in his hands to form a dispenser, it had a square like grip with a trigger that dispenses the explosive gel, the gel itself was contained up on the bottom of the barrel right in front of the trigger and right before the nozzle.

The Gel was an explosive compound that could cause a non-lethal blast, reaching his hand out he fired small concentrated things of gel at the glass before hitting the trigger, causing a chain of explosions against the glass that caused it to shatter out towards the police. Batman ran out from behind the column as he out the dispenser back on his belt and dove through the broken glass into one of the cops.

Rolling off him he slammed his fist into one's gut, making him double over before being tossed into a pair of officers, one of him managed to get a shot off that pierced Rowan's shoulder, going through him. Batman yelled out in pain as remaining two recovered from the sudden explosion and raised their guns, the vigilante raise his other arm and fired a pair of discs at their guns, cutting into them and disarming them.

Rowan Boosted up towards the glass dome, bursting through the glass dome and up into the air. The Batmobile swooped in underneath him as the boosters let out, landing his his seat, Rowan held his wounded shoulder as blood seeped from the wound, _'Rowan what happened!?'_ Bruce asked over the radio.

"Ah shit…..ok, first shot hit the plates, so worse case some bruising. Second one was clean through the shoulder….and it hurts. A lot." He groaned out as he reached his good arm out and turned the throttle forward, making the Batmobile shoot forward through the air.

 _'_ _You're sure it's straight though?'_ Bruce asked.

Rowan took his gloves, mask, and upper section of costume off before he reached his hand back over his shoulder, his finger brushed against the exit wound, making him hiss out in pain. "Yep, it went though. Ow. What do I do?" he asked.

 _'_ _There's a first aid kid on the left of the seat.'_ Bruce said, Rowan looked over to see the wall unfold to show a fully stocked first aid kit. _'Take out the bandages, disinfectant, and stapler.'_ Rowan's pupils dilated at mention of the last tool. After retrieving the aforementioned tools, Bruce went onto explain what to do. _'First, disinfect the wound.'_ Bruce said, Rowan unscrewed the cap and poured some of the liquid into the cap before splashing it over the wound on his shoulder, he hissed out in pain at the burning sensation. Repeating that with the wound on his back, he figured out what came next before Bruce said it. _'Next grab the stapler.'_

Rowan took a breath before stapling the wound shut, "Sonofvabitch!" he cursed out before quickly doing the same, "FUCK!" he yelped out before laying back in the seat and taking a few deep breaths.

 _'_ _Good…..good Rowan….come back to the cave and I'll-'_

"I'm good." Rowan hissed out as he reached for his suit and pulled it on over his head, "Still need to find those three robbers and find out what they know." He stated as he pulled his mask down over his face and slipped his gloves on.

 _'_ _Rowan, you've just been shot twice! You are in no condition to fight three potentially armed men.'_

The new knight sighed, Bruce wasn't exactly wrong, "Yeah true….but I'm already here." He said before hitting the switch o the visor and dropping onto the rooftop of the apartment complex where the tracker had shown the car had stopped at. Landing on the rooftop, he made his way to the side where the fire escape was, "And since I'm here could you by chance look up the apartment these guys are using?" he asked.

A few seconds of silence passed over the comm before Bruce spoke, _'Top floor, window facing the northeast. Investigate then come straight back. I still have the kill switch.'_ Bruce reminded him not so gently as he unfolded his wings, with some slight discomfort, before gliding around the side of the building to where the apartment was. Landing on the wall beneath the window, he grabbed the frame with his good arm and lifted himself up to peer inside a darkened room.

Hoisting himself up into the frame, he opened the window and slipped inside. The room was a bedroom with bunks on either side of the window. Walking to the door, he put his fingertip mics up against it to see if anyone was on the other side, when he heard nothing, he slowly opened the door and entered the room.

"Oh my god…." Rowan muttered in shock and disgust.

The scene in front of him was the three robbers sitting on the couch, the sides of two of their faces where rotting away with a black substance on the sides of their heads. The one in the middle was all but meat and bones on his face. "B-Bruce are you-"

 _'_ _I am…..I'm calling Barbra. She'll have her people down there soon enough.'_

Rowan didn't know what to do, simply seeing these men in this state was horrifying enough. However what made it even more disturbing was the message that was carved into their chest, the three lining up allowed their killer to write a message with the same decomposed matter.

 ** _And Behold I Shall Be a BLIGHT Upon The Land. And Everything I Touch Will Wither and DIE!_**

* * *

 **AN: AS I'm sure you've noticed, the gadgets that Rowan has are reminiscent of both the Arkham Games and the Telltale Batman games (BTW Season two just came out and HOLY SHIT IT'S AWESOME!) so if you are familiar with them you probably know what Rowan has.**

 **Now a few people have asked me what the suit looks like, now mainly it looks like how it does in the show only with a slight modification to the belt, having two cylinders on the side of the center. Now I imagine the suit having a ton of armor under the black fabric but it's not something that can be noticed right off the bat. In the DC Rebirth Comic he has a new suit that's different from the show (red eyes, which kind of works but doesn't look good IMO, but then he get's one that looks kind of similar to the HellBat suit with red accents.)**

 **But I grew up with the show so that's what I mainly base it on.**

 **That aside, I'm sorry to say that I recently suffered a loss in my family, someone I love passed away and…..it's been rough. But I know they're in a better place, and my family has shown that they will always be there for me whenever I am in need. So that's why I haven't been as active lately, but I got the spark back to write and I'm doing much better now.**

 **Now then, what's going on at Wayne's company? Will Rowan and Bruce find this Blight person? Will Ruby become Batgirl? Will Zwei be the new bathound?!**

 **Next time caped crusaders!**

 **…** **well I guess it's winged crusaders huh? I mean the suit doesn't have a cape so…..yeah.**


	5. Chapter 5 Blight

**Blight**

Bruce had told Rowan that being Batman meant that he would witness some of the most depraved and horrid acts that man and faunus could commit, however it wasn't until he saw the remains of the three men he had stopped the night prior that the statement really sunk in. But between the gunshot wound and the lack of sleep, the pain in his arm was keeping him from staring and gawking. Placing a hand over the wound, he hissed at the sharp pain, "Ok boss, what do I do?" he asked, walking over to the couch to examine the bodies.

 _'_ _Rowan get out of there, Gordon will secure the crime scene-'_

"I am right here and we both know that we can't trust every cop in the department." Rowan argued as he tapped his gauntlet and activated the hand scanner. Holding his hand up to the side of the face of one of the victims, the readings appeared on his HUD. The scan indicated that the damage had traces of some sort of substance, reaching into his belt he grabbed a evidence container with a pair of small tweezers and reached into the side of the decomposing face and took a sample of the black substance.

Rowan placed the evidence in the container and closed it, _'Wait….give me a shot of the right victim's side where the decomp is.'_ Bruce instructed. Rowan stood up and walked around the couch to the side, the side of the man's face was seemingly burned away almost down to the bone. _'Rowan back away from it a few feet I think I see something.'_ Bruce said over the radio, the new knight backed away from the victim and saw what Bruce was referring to, the spot that was burned on the side of the man's face was in a shape. The shape of a hand.

"You see this boss?" he asked as he walked around the other side of the couch and finding a reverse of the print on the other man's face. "Wait a minute." Rowan said as he walked up behind the couch and reached his arms out to confirm his theory. Holding his arms out he could all but touch the spots where their faces had been burned. "Whoever did this used his hands to kill them. Literally, the hand prints are like whoever killed them reach over and grabbed the sides of their faces and they just burned." He explained, "He must have used both his hands on the one in the middle." He said, taking a step back from the trio of corpses.

He heard Bruce let out a hum of contemplation, _'Get back to the cave, you need patched up and need to go through evidence.'_ Bruce said, Rowan nodded as he started towards the way he entered the apartment just as sirens began to close in around the area. Seconds later the Batmobile took off into the air and turned towards Wayne Manor as a police cruiser pulled up on the curve outside the apartment complex.

* * *

"OW!" Rowan yelped as the gunshot wound in his shoulder was dressed with a new set of bandages. Bruce and him were in the crime lab with Rowan sitting on one of the tables and Bruce finishing up the wound on his back. "Careful please! Unlike you I live in a house populated by others, and last thing I want is them seeing that I have a gunshot wound." He warned before there was a forceful tug at his bandage. "Ow! Ok, harsh, I'm sorry." He apologized.

"Make it up by going over the evidence." Brue said as he finished up, Rowan sliding off the counter and fallowing Bruce to where they had laid out the pieces of evidence. Putting on a pair of sterile gloves, Rowan saw that the phone, letter, and the sample from the crime scene that was now in a petri dish. "The Batcomputer should be able to download the contents of the phone, meanwhile I want you to go over these two pieces of evidence." He said as he grabbed the phone and walked out of the crime lab, Rowan turned to the two pieces of evidence and took a short breath.

Bruce had been tutoring him in crime scene investigation, he knew the basics but this would be his first real test. "Ok, letter first." He said, pushing the petri dish off to the side for the time being. Tapping the surface of the table, the white table lit up, "Computer, scan for fingerprints or any traces of DNA." He commanded, a thin red light scanning over the envelope, a holographic window appeared and said there were a set of prints on the seal. "Run through all known databases we have access to." He said as he took the paper out of the envelope and opened it. On the paper were account numbers and dollar amounts, "Looks like more of what dad found…..but wait." he muttered as he noticed that Prat's name was listed as well, and that the money that was being used to create the weapons went through his account as well. "This must be what got him onto Prat and whoever is behind this." He muttered.

Setting the evidence aside for now, he reached over and slid the petri dish over before tapping the table's side, making a drawer extend out with a microscope. Setting it on the table, he slid the petri dish into the microscope and looked through the lenses, "Computer, take note. The cells extracted from the crime scene appear to be in a state od decay….however there are traces of some form of chemical residue on the cells." He said aloud as his hand reached into the drawer and pulled out a scalpel and carefully extracted a sample of the chemical from the decomposing cells.

Rowan took out another dish to examine the substance, walking over to a machine, he placed the dish into a compartment and started up the Mass Spectrometer. It would take hours for the machine to analyze the substance, so he picked up the letter and brought it with him as he exited the lab and walked up the stairs to the Batcomputer where Bruce had already decrypted the phone, on the screen was the home screen to the phone. "There's a set of fingerprints on this but there were no results within the criminal database for a match. The substance is being looked at by the mass spec but that will take a few hours at best. What about you?" he asked as he handed Bruce the envelope.

The billionaire took the paper and read over it, "It's in line with what your father discovered….except that this is an older document then the others." He pointed out as his finger underlined the date. Bruce looked up at the screen, "And the scroll has only outgoing calls, meaning that it must be a burner phone. I ran the number and it's to Prat." He explained as the screen showed the only calls the scroll made where outgoing. "Look at the date the last call was made." He said, Rowan looked up at the last call's date, his eyes widened.

"That's the day my dad died…..wait if this was in a lockbox then that means the only prints on the scroll would be on the scroll-" he started.

"I already scanned for fingerprints….here's what came back." He added as he hit a key on the computer, causing the fingerprint match to come up with a photo of who it belonged to. Harold Bryce, Rowan's father. Bruce saw the shock and confusion on Rowan's face, his mind was trying to rationalize why his father had this scroll and a file on Prat from before his murder.

"Maybe he….maybe he was investigating Prat before on something spate? And that's how he found out about the weapons?" he proposed to the older man. Bruce didn't look convinced at all, "Well if this is what the robbers where trying to steal, then the one who's behind all this must have hired them to steal the lockbox. And it's probably the same guy who killed them." He reasoned soundly, the dark knight considered the possibility and nodded in agreement.

"It makes sense but it doesn't explain how the suspects where killed….we should have the results in a few hours. Go home and rest. I'll text you when the results come back." He said as he turned the chair back to the Batcomputer. Rowan stared at the image of his father for a few seconds before starting towards the staircase exit to the cave.

When the clock entrance closed, Ace whined before walking over to his master, Bruce reached his hand out and scratched the hound between his ears, "He'll be fine boy…..he just needs to accept the facts." He said as he looked up at the photo as well, at their possible mastermind behind all this.

* * *

Rowan tapped his fingers against the table as he thought over the events of the last day, the gunshot wound was healing well ad went from burning pain to a constant soreness. The young man looked down at his plate of food, a hamburger and fires with ketchup, "Are you going to eat or what?" Ruby asked beside him, he looked over to see the huntress in training ate a spoonful of chili. He had bet the sisters at a popular restaurant after they finished school.

Rowan took a bite of one of his fries, "Sorry. A lot on my mind is all….how was school?" he asked, while his mission as Batman had satisfied his desire for good, there was still the question of what he would do in his day life. He had hope that he could possibly become a huntsman, he could take jobs to finance his life as Batman, not to mention he could spend some time with his friends.

He was finding out that when you spend our nights in a batsuit, he doesn't make many friends. Yang grinned, "Pretty good if I do say so myself. Testing is three weeks away and at the rate I'm going, dad says I'll pass with flying colors. Then next spring, it's Beacon time." He said excitedly. The blonde brawler was more than looking forward to starting her first year at Beacon Academy, the Huntsman school was open to people from all backgrounds, there were some cases where people got in on skill alone. So there was still some hope that Rowan could attend.

The young man smiled at his friend, "Good to hear, though it's going to be a little lonely around here without you around. And we all know Ruby will go after you further down the road-" he joked, causing Ruby to pout at him with a whine. "It's ok we're still friends." He said with a smile as he nudged her playfully, making her smile brightly.

Yang cupped her chin in contemplation, "Hmmmm. I think I have a solution to the problem." She said as Roan took a bite of his burger. He gave the blonde a suspicious look, one time she said she had a solution to a problem, they caught a tree on fire which had a kite stuck up in it. Her reasoning being if they burned it down just right the kite would fall…..this did not work out the way she thought it did.

Though in all fairness she was eleven at the time. Rowan however used that as a reference that while Yang always had good intentions, but that isn't always enough.

"Does it involve a dog? Oh! If we got you a puppy you'd never be lonely." She proposed, Rowan and Yang shook their heads, the redhead raised her hands. "Well if you have a better idea for something that can give Rowan everlasting happiness and joy then I would like to hear it." She stated with a critical tine, finding it difficult to think of a better companion than a dog.

"A girlfriend." Yang said dryly to her sister.

"…..I still think a dog would be better." Ruby whispered as Rowan gave Yang a certain look. Rowan had dated a few girls before, however their relationships ended mainly because Rowan and the girl involved would grow apart. One of them actually became jealous of how much time Rowan spent with Yang and Ruby, he ended that because he would never date someone who talked bad about his friends.

He sighed, "Yang." He started before Yang raised a hand to cut him off.

"Before you get all 'Dating isn't for me' on us, I'm just asking you give it a chance." She offered. Between what happened with his father, and the fact that she would not see him as much in the future, she wanted to know that Rowan would have someone that cared about him just as much as she and Ruby did, if not more. Rowan still didn't look convicted as he ate his food, neither did Ruby, "Look, I just want you to be happy." She stated.

"I am happy. Womanless. And dog-less." He added when Ruby opened her mouth, but quickly shut it when he added the last bit of information. The scroll in his pocket vibrated, pulling it out of his pocket he saw the caller was unknown, but it was calling his Mordin Malone number. "Give me a minute guys I got a call from work." He explained as he stood up and walked away to take his call. Rowan walked towards the restroom to take the call, leaving the sisters alone at the table.

Yang deflated slightly and frowned, Ruby noticed the saddened look of her sister had and gave her a small smile of support. "I know your worried, but if there was anything wrong, he would tell us." She said reassuringly to the blonde. Yang had been worried about Rowan, he seemed as though he was going through something else right now but he wasn't telling them anything. They had both started worrying when his cold remark about his father's killer came about. Of course neither of them knew what he was going through, so it probably was natural for him to be angry and cold towards who was responsible for his father's passing.

The blonde boxer sighed, "I know." She said sadly, she simply wanted to help Rowan.

Meanwhile, the young knight had locked the door to the bathroom and answered the phone, using a filter on the phone so that his voice came across as he did when he was in his other persona. "Junior?" he answered.

 _'_ _Yeah Malone it's me, I got good news and bad news on that merch you want. Which do you want first?'_ Junior's voice said through the scroll as Rowan walked over to the sink counter and looked at himself in the mirror. Bruce told him that creating a false persona was a hard skill to master, it was like a performance that you needed to be prepared for every moment of the day. Thankfully, Bruce had been teaching him, and Bruce Wayne was one of the best.

"Either man, news is news and I'm going to hear it anyway." He said with a shrug, watching himself in the mirror like he had done when he practiced the persona. He felt like an idiot when he got in front of the mirror and practiced the way Malone talked, his mannerisms, all these small details but it worked obviously.

 _'_ _Bad news is the guy who operated the weapons? Croaked.'_ He explained, Rowan rolled his eyes, he knew that already. _'Apparently the guy was hit by Mutants, their boss didn't like loose ends. I hope your contact in Minstrel is more professional than that.'_ Junior stated, making Rowan's blood run cold. That was exactly how his father died…..but that meant his father was behind this, the safety deposit box showed that his father was blackmailing Prat to make the weapons while he hid it from everyone else. _'But good news is, his partner just contacted me. He's just got to get his plans and he'll be making weapons by this time next week.'_ Junior added, making Rowan shake his head in confusion.

"You trust this guy?" Rowan asked, if Junior trusted him than it could mean that whoever this new contact was and knew about the weapons, it could be someone involved with this mystery and could confirm if Rowan's father was in fact involved.

 _'_ _Honestly? I think you might need to look somewhere else for what you want. This guy did not sound all there you know? Look, sorry I couldn't deliver.'_ Junior apologized.

Rowan shook his head at himself in the mirror, "Hey man shit happens. Isn't on you. Thanks for the holler. I'll keep you in mind though if I hear anyone needing manpower." Rowan said, keeping Junior as a contact for Malone could pay off at some point, and from what he gathered on records, Junior could help him out later on.

 _'_ _Thanks, hope that job pans out.'_ Junior said before hanging up. Rowan shut the scroll closed and braced his hands against the sink. The revelation ran through his head, his father was behind this, Prat wanted to make weapons but was underfunded, Harold gave him the funds and the sold the weapons to make a profit. Rowan felt his teeth grit together as he looked up in the mirror. He saw himself staring back, in his eyes were a mix of emotions, confusion, disappointment, sadness, disbelief, but above all else rage, the rage within him that made his fingers dig into the counter and grit his teeth together was the one emotion is his eyes that stood out.

His fist drew back and slammed into the mirror, cracking the mirror and causing his reflection to crack. Pulling his fist away he stomped out of the restroom and made his way back towards his table, trying to visibly calm himself. Yang looked over as he walked over, "You ok?" she asked with some concern, noticing the somewhat distressed look in his eyes.

Rowan reached down and picked up his bag, he looked up at the sisters and before he could fabricate a story, he felt his throat go dry. Taking a moment to collect himself he let out a tired sigh, "I got some bad news….that's all." He admitted sadly, "Look I got to go see Mr. Wayne. I'll take to you guys later, this is on me." He said as he pulled some Lien out and put enough down for the meal as he made his way towards the exit.

Ruby and Yang shared a worried look as he left.

* * *

Rowan found himself at the manor within the span of a hour, entering the cave through the study's entrance he walked down the steps. Ace was waiting for him at the base of the stairs, Rowan patted him on the head. 'Hey boy…..at least I know what your all about." He said, the canine giving a affirmative 'woof' before walking towards the Batcomputer where Bruce was sitting his hands folded together. Rowan frowned, "You know….don't you?" he asked, Bruce gave him a solemn nod.

Rowan walked over in front of him and slung the bag off his shoulder, opening the bag he looked into the cowl, "I don't suppose you have any advice for me? Because right now I am feeling pretty damn mad….but I don't want to be." he explained. Part of him wanted to hate his father for lying to him and doing something like this, but he was also still his father.

Bruce was silent for a moment as he thought, "Use the anger." He said simply, causing Rowan to raise an eye as he turned the chair back to the computer. "I loved my mother and father. I still do to this day…..but….that rage, that primal feeling in your gut that you have, it doesn't go away. It never does, so you can let it fester in you and eat at you. Or you can use it." He stated, Rowan pressed his lips together as he looked down at the suit before nodding in acknowledgement. Bruce typed on the keyboard, making an image of the substance he gathered come up on one side and the canister with the gas Prat developed. "The substance you found at the scene was a more concentrated version of the gas, it appears that Prat might be behind the attempted robbery…..we did theorize that the gas could be counteracted with a mix of dust and chemical agents.." he trailed off.

Rowan's eyes widened, "That's how they died, he just touched them, they weren't burns they were just…decomposed at his touch." He said in realization. "Junior called me and said that there was someone who could get Mordin the weapons he wanted….if Prat survived the gas it has to be him…oh no." he muttered, "Junior said he needed to get his plans for the weapons!" he said, making Bruce's eyes widen. Before he could say anything however, the sound of an alarm began blaring made both their heads snap up at the screen to see an alert flash across the screen, _'WAYNE TOWER ALARM TRIGGERED'_

Rowan and Bruce shared a look before the former ran to the stairs and jumped down to where the Batmobile was parked at, entering the vehicle, he engaged the autopilot and set it to Wayne Tower. Pulling the costume out, he changed into the suit as it took of and flew through the cave, as the aircraft exited the caves the young man had changed into his suit. Rowan took control of the batmobile and turned to towards Wayne tower as it's owner's voice came on over the comm, _'You realize that you can't let him touch you for too long. The suit should protect you but only so much.'_ He explained as the tower came into view.

Batman's eyes narrowed, he was right, he would need to stick to ranged combat to ensure he didn't get melted like the other thugs. But above all else his most important goal was to ensure that Prat didn't touch anyone else, thankfully at this hour there wasn't many people working at the tower at this time so at least he didn't need to worry about a whole tower of civilians. He reached out to the keyboard and began to imput commands to the vehicle, "I'm adjusting the Batmobile's sensors to pick up any trace of the substance that Prat leaves behind, hopefully it'll hone in on Prat before-" he started before the computer chimed that it was picking up a large amount of the substance near the top floor of Wayne Tower.

 _'_ _Rowan the news is reporting that there's a 'person of danger' at Wayne Tower, there's only two people reported inside. Our two 'suspects'.'_ Bruce explained, the irony was not lost on him. He made a mental note to retrieve the bugs that Rowan had planted, along with giving them a bonus, provided that they survive this.

Soon the new knight was flying the batmobile up the side of the tower towards the top floor, as he neared the floor where Prat was detected, Batman activated the floor exit. The young man dropped out as the batmobile flew away, using his boosters he flew up the rest of the way until he reached the floor where the alarms had been triggered from, he landed on the ledge and took the focusing laser off his utility belt and began cutting through the glass in a circle.

When the shape was cut out, he pushed the glass in and entered the tower, he was in the hallway of the CEO offices. He was at the East end of the hallway, sprinting down the corridor, he heard the sound of a crash come from Wayne's office, turning the corner at the intersection he broke through the doors to the office, Rowan's eyes widened, "My god…..Prat?!" he asked when he saw the state that the former employee was in.

The once meek scientist had been turned into a translucent green tinted biohazard, he stood behind the desk with Colt in the chair, Prat's hand on the top of the seat beside his head, the leather was rotting away under his touch and he could even tee the ex-atlas military soldier's ear become something akin to sunburnt skin. Prat wore what Rowan could only describe as an homemade hazmat suit, it was black in color with the protective plastic torn off at the sleeves and a large hazmat symbol on the chest there the collar parted, showing down to his sternum.

"Well Lookie who we have here. Batman." The biohazard greeted as the new knight took a step closer, "Ah, ah, ah!" he warned as he nearly touched the side of the man's head. "I wouldn't get any closer if I were you." He warned gingerly, daring to kill the board member. "Last time you got close to me, this happened." He explained, gesturing to his face with his other hand. Rowan narrowed his eyes, he needed a way to get Prat away from Colt. "I really should thank you though, before this, I don't know what I would have done if I was still just flesh….this makes things much easier."

"Your sick Prat, you need help, that gas you were exposed to-" Batman started before Prat slammed him his on the desk.

"Don't! I know what the gas does, I made it myself…..because of him….Bryce….he told me he saw I had potential and the board was wasting my time….so a little money from the company was put to better use with what I wanted." He explained, Batman still looking around for a way to subdue Prat. Front outside the window behind the desk appeared a police airship, shining a light into the room.

 _Wait….oh this is stupid but it'll work for sure._ Rowan thought before using the boosters on his heels to propell himself directly into Prat and sending them through the window and out into the air. They were both lightly cut from going through the glass window, as they fell the scientist grabbed onto his wrist, Rowan let out a cry of pain as they fell. It was like a fire was set under his skin, striking the man across the face he let go of the vigilante.

They were approaching the ground fast, spreading his wings, he sloed his decent and let Prat fall a few more feet before firing his grapnel at him, wrapping around the scientist's leg, adding the force of his boosters he slowed their decent onto the ground before the cable dissolved and snapped, sending Prat onto the ground where officers had enclosed a circle around the front entrance. "Both of you Freeze!" one of the officers raised their weapons at the pair.

Batman grit his teeth, _Perfect, now I need to deal with the police shooting me._ Rowan thought sarcastically. The new knight counted about a dozen policemen with guns trained on the two of them. Three of them came out from the encirclement and walked towards Prat, "No wait!" he shouted before Prat quickly grabbed two of them, his touch burning through their arms and causing them to scream as they fell to the ground clutching their wounds, the rest of the men too scared to move.

Rowan quickly dispensed a batarang ad threw it at Blight, hitting him in the back of the head, dazing him as he turned to the Bat in time for him to he hit him with a downward strike and knocked him down onto the ground, Prat rolled over just as Batman raised his fist to strike, the scientist held his hands out in a defensive manner and burned the front of the suit, Rowan let out a hiss of pain before he heardthe officer on scene yell at his men to open fire.

Without thinking he grabbed prat's wrists and used his boosters to fly them up out of the way of the gunfire, over the officers heads and onto one of the police cars, Rowan was struck off onto the ground as Prat rolled over towards the police who retreated back so they wouldn't suffer the same fate as their comrades. _This isn't good, I need to find some way to stop him without touching him but the cables wil just decompose and batcuffs will rust…..wait a minute cuffs!_ He thought in realization and reached into the police cruiser through the broken window and opened the glove box, _Please be here, please be here, please be here, yes!_ He thought when he found three sets of plastic cuffs.

Leaping off the car towards Prat, he kicked him in the back, landing on top of him the scientist reached his hands back towards the Batman, Rowan took the chance to wrap the plastic cuffs around his arm and pull it towards the other and cuff the them to gather, Prat struggled underneath him, pulling at the plastic as it began to shrink around his wrists, "Agh! What is that?!" he asked as Rowan cuffed his feet together as well.

"Plastic, it takes thousands of years to decompose. It'll eventually melt like everything yo touch, but it will take a little longer than flesh." Batman stated as he stood up and slammed his foot into the back of the ex-scientist's head into the ground. The vigilante took a moment to catch his breath, the police started to close in around the two once again, he quickly pulled a gas pellet out of his belt and dropped it onto the floor. The smoke poured out from the small ball and covered the area.

When the smoke cleared the Batman was gone.

* * *

Barbra Gordan arrived on scene just as the special containment unit arrived as well, the team was responsible for capturing extra ordinary perpetrators. Mostly they dealt with Grim that made it too close to the city, they would be given to Beacon Academy, but also rouge Huntsmen and Huntresses. Prat, or what he called himself now being Blight, was loaded into the large semi truck shaped transport with the back being a mobile prison cell. Barbra watched from a wall beside an alley as the truck drove off. She rubbed her eyes as a shadowed figure dropped into the alley beside her, "Prat was spouting out about how he was going to get revenge against Waynetech for what they did to him…..one of the board members said that he was saying some things about one employee in particular…..is it true?" she asked as Batman stepped out beside her.

Rowan was quiet for a second before answering, "Yeah….it is….all of it." He answered ashamed, "My father was responsible for Prat creating the weapons and selling them to make money…..he was killed by the Mutants so they could get the Gas that made Prat into that." He explained to Barbra, the commissioner looked over at him with a look of sorrow.

"…..this will get out…..I can try to suppress it for as long as I can but….you should prepare yourself." She advised, she wanted to spare the young man the pain of the truth coming to light.

"No…..don't hide it, if you do then it'll just get worse…I better go break the news to some friends before they hear it on the evening news." he said as he turned into the alley, Barbra looked into the shadows as he began to walk off.

"Kid…this isn't on you." She said simply, causing the new knight to stop for but a brief moment before continuing on into the alley. A moment later the Batmobile flew up into they sky and towards the Island of Patch, it's pilot unmasked and looking at the piece of his costume.

Barbra was right of course this was in no way on him. But that didn't mean he couldn't try to make things right.

* * *

Rowan sat in the dining room of the Rose/Xiao Long household, the past fifteen minutes had been spent with him explaining the situation with his father's role in his own death. "Mister Wayne told me about all this, he thought I should know first before any police came by or anything…..he said I'm still more than welcome to be his assistant though so that's good. But other than that….yeah." he said with a slight sigh. He looked at the two sisters and their fathers, the three of them having a collective look of sorrowfulness.

"Rowan…..I honestly don't know how to respond to all this." Tai said, having trouble picturing Rowan's father in this light.

The young man nodded in agreement to the Huntsman's response, "I know…..look if you guys aren't comfortable with me staying here I have more than enough cash to-"

"No!" Ruby interrupted, getting the others attention, "Look just because your dad was…not a good guy, doesn't mean you're not. Besides we love having you here." She said, Yang nodding in agreement with a smile. "You one of the family." She added, "Like Zwei." She added, making the corgi let out a yip from beneath the table, causing the young man to chuckle before Yang walked around the table and wrapped her arm around his neck in a mock headlock.

"Rubes is right your family. And you are staying here. Or else." She threatened lightly as her grip around his neck tightened enough to be felt. Yang ruffled his hair as he pulled himself out of her grasp, "You're a good guy Rowan. Stick around as long as you want." She said firmly.

"Ok fine, I'm not going anywhere…..and thanks guys….this means a lot." He said, truly grateful for the family's hospitality towards him.

 **AN: I know that this isn't as long as the other chapters but it's about quality, not quantity right? (Pie gets thrown at face) Ok well fine this is all you guys get for now! So there.**

 **Until next time guys :)**


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